Listen to your Heart
by koneko-chaan
Summary: Jill is new. A tomboy who just lost her parents. Her usually cool exterior is suddenly shattered when she meets Skye a smooth talking thief. But as if that isn't enough Cliff a young and shy boy comes every Saturday. JillxSkyexCliff Rated T to be safe
1. On my own

This is my very first Harvest Moon Fanfic, actually my first Fanfic ever so, if some things aren't very clear that's most likely why, and I don't really have a script or anything, I'm just making it up as I go along, but I do have some ideas in my head that I want to put out there. I rated it T just to be safe. Oh! And I might be making a FanComic one day of this so if you see it, it's not plagurized, 'cause I'm pretty sure it'll be the same username.

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Chapter 1

I stood at the front door of the small house in her new home; it was a small home, much smaller than her home in the city. I grabbed one end of my brown ponytail which was dangling just above my shoulders; I twirled the hair between my fingers. A blonde girl named Claire stood next to me, she was shorter than me but not by much. She starred at the house.

"It's not that bad, it's similar to my house when I first moved in." Claire said trying to reassure me. She placed a hand on my shoulder. In her other hand was holding a bag of seeds.

"I guess...." I muttered, Claire's house was large now, but she had been living in Mineral Town for two years now. I had however just moved to Forget-Me-Not Valley. The name was kind of cheesy. I thought anyway. Grabbing the door handle I walked inside, a small dog and cat followed me before Claire did. Koro was the dog; he was still a puppy, a mutt. I was still unsure what breed he was. I was never told. Ashie the little black cat was also a mix breed. I made a slight gasp at the little house; there was a bed in the corner, an old record player, a trash can, telephone, a red box. A bookshelf, hook and calendar were against the far wall. The walls and floor were just planked, no paint or carpet or anything. Claire actually herself looked shocked. But she didn't say anything; I knew she was just being polite. I held onto the handles of my rucksack on my back, it was full of clothes; she had a bag full of tools. Setting the bags down on the ground she walked over to the bed and sat down. At least her bed was comfortable.

Claire laid the bag of seeds down neatly on the floor, like she always did, politely and sweetly. I on the other hand was a tomboy; the guys challenged me and lost, in anything to do with strength and basketball. I was quite good at basketball.

"Are you going to be okay Jill?" Claire asked, sitting down on the bed next to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine; you can go whenever you want to." I had always never shown much expression or emotion, now was no exception.

"Okay then." She gave me a hug, and then got up. "I'll see you later then, make sure you call tomorrow. Okay?"

"Of course, I'll see you later." I waved as she left my new house. Koro and Ashie sat down next to each other, and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. "What are you guys so upset about? We're on our own, no parents or anything. (Except for Takakura.)" I said trying to make a strong face. Both of my parents were now dead. My father died shortly after I was born he was in the army, and then my mother died about a year ago, I was bounced around with guardians, but a few days ago I had turned eighteen and was able to live on my own. I fell back on the bed, and buried myself under the covers not even bothering changing. Ashie and Koro jumped up onto the bed with me. I drifted into a deep sleep. I wasn't even sure of the time. Until I was awoken by someone talking to me, I looked up in shock as a girl was looking at me, her hair was blonde and wavy, her eyes red and slender, she had a broomstick next to her. "Wake up." She said.


	2. Odd and Kind faces

Chapter 2

I jumped up out of bed and stood across from the girl, I looked at her curiously, if she was a real witch or just a crazy cosplayer.

"Oh good you're awake." She said laughing slightly. I raised one eyebrow at her. "You have a letter from the Harvest King. Read it." She handed me a letter.

I took it, opened the small envelope and began to read. 'Hello, this is the Harvest King. The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest Sprites were punished because you didn't work.' I tightened my grasp on the letter, making the corner wrinkle. 'They've been sent away to another world. If you work hard and achieve your goals, I will return the Harvest Sprites and Harvest Goddess to this world. Do you understand?' I nodded at the paper. 'The two Harvest Sprites at the Harvest Sprite Station and Guts at Harvest Sprite Inc. are still in this world, so they should be able to help you get started. Well do your best. Sincerely the Harvest King.' I stared at the letter in disbelief of Harvest Sprites and the whole story.

"It's going to be lonely now that I have nobody to argue with." The girl made a slight pouting face. "Anyway work hard. I'm counting on you." She then disappeared.

I blinked twice when she disappeared. "I have to save the Harvest Goddess and Harvest Sprites... Yeah right." I paused but then thought about how the girl just disappeared in mid-air. I sighed. "All right, I'll do my best!!" I tried to speak with enthusiasm, but it was hard to believe. I looked over in the corner, Koro and Ashie must have jumped off my bed when the girl came. They were snuggled together in the corner. I smiled at the two they got along so well. Walking toward the door I looked out the window next to it, the sun was coming up. Sighing I looked in my bag, to get changed. I noticed one of the zippers in the back was open. I looked inside and there was nothing in it, I began to look through the entire bag to see what was missing. I gasped, it was my father's dog tag from when he was in the war! He had given it too my mother when he left for war. I was too young to remember but she told me that, on her deathbed she gave it to me. I felt my stomach begin to twist, I wanted to cry, it was the only thing I had left of the two, except for the farm. I stood up, fighting back the tears, and quickly changed into some clean clothes. I grabbed the bag full of my tools and swung it around onto my back, I grabbed the bag of seeds Claire had left and headed out to start planting the seeds.

After a few hours I was done sowing, planting and watering, I fell to the ground and breathed heavily, luckily every day wasn't going to be like this. Standing up again I stared up at the sky, the sun was high in the sky, I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead, I must stink. There was no shower in my house, and I didn't want to bathe in the water hole, what if Takakura came out and saw me? I shivered at the thought. Maybe there was a place that I could use a shower, or get something to eat, I felt my stomach on cue start to growl. I didn't have a kitchen either. I dropped off her tools in the house and began to walk around to try and see if there was anywhere I could use. As I left MY land i looked to her left and saw a small patch of grassless area, with some grasses growing in it. I walked over to them picked one and sniffed it smelled good, I put it in my rucksack and continued to walk around. After a few minutes of wandering, I found an inn, I walked into the large building and saw a women standing behind the counter, she was pleasantly plump, her face was that of a young child.

"Hi welcome to the Inner Inn." She smiled at me.

"Hi…" I stopped and wondered how I would say this. "Listen this is going to sound weird but… at my house there is no shower or kitchen and I live on a farm, so I was wondering if--" She cut me off.

"Oh you're the girl who moved into the farm!" She said happily smiling.

"Yes, and I was wondering if there would be any chance that I would be able to use your showers and kitchen?" I said placing my hand on the back of my head.

"Oh of course dear, let me show you where everything is!" She said leaving her post from the counter, and leading me to a room next to the counter. "This is the kitchen, you may use any utensil that's in here, but you have to use your own food. Unless you want to pay for ours. Oh I'm Ruby by the way."

I smiled at her kindness. "I'm Jill, and thank you so much for this."

"It's not a problem dear.. You know you remind me of an old friend who used to live on the farm when she was young. You're the spitting image of her."

I felt a small stab in my heart, "I'm her daughter, she passed away a year ago. " I muttered with a weak voice.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, about that dear." She paused. "Well, lets go upstairs I'll show you the bathrooms." Ruby said while starting to walk towards the stairs.

I followed her. The stairs were old style and clean.

"My son Rock lives up here and so does a girl named Nami, and people from Mineral Town stay here occasionally. The bathrooms are just over here." She pointed to two doors one had a girl on the door the other a boy. "I'm sure you know which one to use, there's a shower bath and toilet in there. Of course each room has their own but sometimes that's not enough."

After Ruby finished explaining everything, I took a quick shower and went downstairs, and waved goodbye, I had no money so I couldn't pay for her food and a piece of coloured grass couldn't make anything on it's own. I wandered around for a few hours' just exploring I noticed that the sun had gone down, and I had no idea where I was. Lost. I was lost.

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Slow start I know, but don't worry, I'll be introducing Skye in the next chapter and Cliff mostly likely in the next two chapters. So just bear with me. And the beginning I took straight from the game it was playing while I was typing, and I forgot to make the copyright to Natsume and Marvelous Inc. so here goes: All characters are copyright to Natsumi and Marvelous Inc. And some of the writing too.


	3. Lost and Found

Chapter 3

I sighed and began to walk into the darkness of the valley, I had no clue where I was, I had just left a rocket firework looking house, that had two old men living there, they were brothers Patrick and Kassey. I looked around or tried too, I saw some lights, and decided to go look, and maybe I would find out where I was. There was a nicely paved path surrounded by Cherry Blossoms. I stood on my tiptoes and sniffed one of the blossoms, it smelled sweet. I continued to walk and follow the path. I follow the path until I saw a large mansion with a fountain in the front and box gardens around it. I gasped at the beauty of it all. As much as a tomboy I was, I had always liked pretty things.

Suddenly, I heard a storm of feet from in the mansion, and somebody yelling, I walked up to the fountain and stood behind it to get a closer look, but in case there was any danger. I watched a young man walk out of the mansion, he looked pleased, a small bag in his hand. His hair was silver and shone in the moonlight, his eyes were as green as emeralds. He saw me and walked over to where I was standing.

"Hehe. Hello beautiful. Walking alone at night?" He said smirking at me, his voice was soft but not girlish. I looked at him in wonder, my face a slight shade of pink. "Hehe. I'm quite the ladies man and a prince of the stars." He said laughing again.

| looked at him and tried to not laugh. The pretty boy was so full of himself. I had stopped blushing as soon as he said that. Just then I heard the door open and Lumina, a girl I had met while wandering around walked out. She looked at him with accusing eyes. "Aren't the you the famous thief who warns his victims ahead of time?" She asked still glaring at him. I stopped breathing for a second. He was a thief? Why? _Why do I care? _I thought to myself. He turned to me, the smirk still plastered on his face. "Hehe. Sorry but I'm pressed for time. I'm about to jet out." He turned to Lumina and smiled at her, I saw her face turn a light pink but then it disappeared and her glare returned. He turned back to me and came closer. "Hehe. Call me Phantom Skye." Skye put his face right next to mine, his hand on my face, and he whispered; "I have a feeling we'll meet again it's in the stars."

I quickly slapped his hand away from my face. "Don't even try it thief." I growled at him, a glare in my eyes. He just laughed and began to walk away.

Lumina ran up to him and stood in his way. "Wait right there!"

"Hehe. Hold up, beautiful. Don't let such raw anger steal away your beauty." He said he placed a hand on her shoulder and walked past her.

Lumina stood there, her face red. She started to smile. "What a smooth talker…. Phantom Skye….." She started to walk after him.

Skye turned around and smiled and waved at me, I looked at his neck and saw something familiar around his neck. It was a dog tag, the twist in my stomach returned. Skye had stolen my fathers dog tag! How did he get a hold of it? I started to clench my fists, and shake. Lumina returned after her failed attempt to get Skye. "Phantom Skye!" Her face was still pink and her girly grin was still there. "He…. He got away from me!"

I felt the anger in my chest start to bubble, I dashed off to chase Skye, I heard Lumina call after me. "Hey wait! That's no fair chasing after him!!" She called, I ignored her.

I soon caught up to Skye who was just walking through the town, he had taken a turn and was near the pond I had seen earlier, he held up a few of the items he stole then put them back in the bag. Skye then took off the chain around his neck and said something, that I couldn't hear. He held it up to the moonlight as if too try and read what was on it. I walked closer "Phantom Skye!!" I yelled. He turned and looked at me, a smirk returned to his face.

"Couldn't wait to see me again beautiful?" He started to shake his head in humour. "Am I that irresitb--"

I cut him off. "Shut up! And give it back! Give me back the necklace!" I shouted, my voice started to shake.

He looked at the chain, and put his hand down resting next to his leg. "I wouldn't be a very good thief if I did that now would I?" Skye laughed.

"Give it back or I'll take it back." I managed to say without any stuttering. He just laughed once again, I was sick of his laugh. He held up the dog tag against the moonlight, as if he didn't even care. I wanted to go and punch him out. I suddenly felt myself starting to run at him, and jump for the tag, I reached out for it, my hand lightly brushing his, our faces right next to each other. His face was full of shock, mine was determined to get the dog tag. But I felt a sharp pain suddenly in my leg and I winced, loosing contact with the chain, we both fell to the ground.

I rubbed my leg. "Ow…" _What was that from? _I thought, I really didn't know why my leg started to hurt. I heard a familiar laughed come from under me.

"Just couldn't keep yourself off me." Skye laughed, he seemed unfazed. I blushed intensely, forgetting about trying to get the tag back. I started to get up, but felt hands on my shoulders, I looked down at Skye his face, he was still smiling, but now it was more of a determined smirk that smile.

"What are you do--" I was cut off by him pulling me closer and then he rolled, suddenly I was pinned to the ground, I tried to free myself but he applied more pressure my wrists, his hands had moved from my shoulders to my wrists, he was stronger than I was, I was surprised, he didn't look like he would be.

"This is how it should be don't you think? Much more traditional." He said his eyes slender stared into my purple eyes.

"Get offa` me!" I said to squirm, Skye just tightened his grasp. I sighed. "Why are you doing this?" I said finally after calmly, trying to get free didn't seem to work.

"Making things fair. You were on me, so now I'm returning the favour." He looked serious. I blushed and looked away. "So tell me, while we're here, what is your name beautiful?"

"Jill." I replied still looking away. I looked at the ground next to me, the tag was lying there. I needed to try and get it.

"Well then Jill, may I ask why you want the necklace so bad?" He said loosening his grip slightly.

"Why should I tell you?" I muttered still not making eye contact.

"Because, I don't have to let go, if you don't tell me."

I looked at him with disgust, he was the worst type of person. "Fine, it was my father's before he died, he gave it too my mother who also recently just died, it's the only thing I have left of the two of them." I said softly, trying not to cry, I had been very emotional lately and I was unsure why.

"I'm sorry for you loss Jill." He said, his eyes did look sympathetic. _Yeah right, _I thought.

"Now can you get offa` me?" I asked, trying to not sound to eager.

"Of course," he released his grasp and sat up. I rubbed my wrists. Then looked at the place where the dog tag had been. It was gone, Skye was putting it back on his neck, I felt hurt. "Why won't you return it?" I asked, not wanting to go near him.

"Like I told you, I wouldn't be a very good thief if I did that." He stood up, but then bent down and kissed my forehead. "Farewell, little flower, I will see you again."

I blushed and sat there shocked, when I came to my senses, I realized I had let him get away. Standing up I screamed; "DAMN YOU PHANTOM SKYE!!"

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T is still safe right? Well, Skye has appeared, Cliff should be very soon, the next chapter most likely. And I'm sorry to say but Cliff will most likely have a smaller role than Skye, because I like JillxSkye more, but I just love Cliff that much so I just had to put him in here.


	4. It's Good to Meet You

Chapter 4

I didn't get home that night, I waited until the sun came up, and a hippie named Gustafa showed me my way, and gave me a map so I wouldn't get lost again. I thanked him and when I got home I just fell down onto my bed.

I was waken by the sound of the phone ringing, I slowly got up still half asleep and picked up the phone. "Hello?" I asked trying to wake up, I rubbed my eyes.

"Jill!? Are you okay, you said you would call yesterday. You never did!" I heard Claire's frightened voice on the other side.

"I'm okay, I just got in a few hours ago." I had started to wake up.

"What!? You just got in? Why? What were you doing?" Claire asked in record time. I could barely understand what she had said.

"One question at a time, Claire." I yawned. I jumped up out of bed and began to get changed with only my one hand.

"Fine. What were you doing until five in the morning?" She asked. I heard her take a deep breath.

I began to tell her the tale of how Skye took the tag, I still didn't know how he got them in the first place, I forgot to ask. Claire gasped at some points when I told her about after I ran after him.

"Oh Jill! I'm so sorry I couldn't of been there to help you.." Claire's voice was now sad.

"It's okay, he would have been to strong for you anyway, he was stronger than I was." I said trying to reassure her, but actually I think I just insulted her.

"……Oh…Well then Jill, I gotta go. The farm calls." Her tone had switched from sad to angry.

"Y-yeah, okay. I'll talk to you later Claire."

We said our goodbyes, like nothing happened. I sighed after I put down the phone. Being in a fight with Claire at this time, isn't going to be very helpful for me. I tried to shake it off, grabbing my watering can I set out to the small area of Turnips I had planted. I began to water them, my mind wandered. I looked down and saw that my watering can was empty. I walked over to the little body of water, and looked in the water, I saw my face in the water, my eyes were purple, I always found it odd, my mothers eyes had been the same colour. I looked down at my hands, they had already started to callus. I put them into the water, it felt nice. I felt something poke my hand. I poked it back, it made a little squeak. I reached out and grabbed it out of the water. There was a white flash, and I fell back almost crushing a turnip sprout. There was a small creature standing in front of me, he was shaking water out of his pointy ear.

"Thank you Jill for saving me. I'll try to help you however I can." As soon as he said that he disappeared. A small slip of paper fell from the sky as he departed. It said 'Karaf'. He must have been a Harvest Sprite. I smiled to myself that I had found one. I refilled my watering can, and continued to water the rest of the turnips. I walked over to the shipping bin and dropped in some grasses I had gathered the yesterday. I had eaten the Bamboo Shoots, since I knew no recipes, or had any other foods. After that I headed out to the Inn, for my shower. It had started to get hot quite fast, even though it was just the beginning of spring.

When I got to the Inn, I waved to Ruby and headed upstairs, hopped in the shower, and then hopped out. When I opened the door, I almost walked into a girl, she had short red hair and sky blue eyes. She looked like a tomboy just like I was. "Oh! Hi, I'm Jill." I said trying to be friendly.

"………Hi………I'm Nami." Nami said, she was quiet.

"Nice to meet you Nami, I'll see you around." I waved bye and I ran down the stairs. _What did I just do? _I waved goodbye to Ruby, and began to collect more items I found around the Valley, there were more today, but a lot more weeds too. I began to think about Skye, and how I would be able to get my fathers tag back. Taking it by force didn't work, I found out. Looking up at the sky, I noticed that it was starting to get dark out, I pulled out the map that Gustafa had given me, and followed a path until I returned to my home.

I sat down on my bed. Koro and Ashie jumped up and snuggled next to me. I got up and quickly changed into my pyjamas and hopped back into bed. I fell asleep with thoughts of Skye, and my fathers dog tag.

A few days later, my turnips were ready to be harvested. I pulled them up from the ground, and smiled, they were perfect, I quickly ran to the shipping bin and placed most of them in the bin, but I left two with me so I could go cook them at the Inner Inn.

It was cloudy today, the first time I had seen clouds here. _Of course it stops being sunny when the weekend hits. _I thought to myself.

"Hi Ruby!" I said happily.

"Oh hi Jill. Are you here to use the kitchen?" She asked eyeing the turnips in my arms.

"Yep, but I don't know any recipes." I admitted.

"That's fine dear. There is a recipe book in there, you may use whatever recipe you want." She said smiling.

I ran into the kitchen, and saw a young man standing there, he had brown hair, and it was tied back in a ponytail. I walked up to him, to say hi, I tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned around. He had purple eyes! I looked at his hair, they were blonde at the tips, I felt myself blush a tiny bit.

"Yikes… Oh hi." He looked startled.

I giggled. "Hi, I'm Jill. I run the ranch." I put my hand out.

"I'm Cliff…" He said looking away. He was so shy.

"Nice to meet you Cliff." I said putting my hand back down, he didn't shake it. I felt a little disappointed.

"You too Jill. So do you um want something?" He asked, still looking away.

I forgot about the turnips, then remembered about them. "Oh Ruby lets me use the kitchen here, I'm planning on cooking." I put the turnips down on the counter.

"Oh, well then I guess I'll just leave you alone." Cliff started to walk away.

"Wait! You can stay." He stopped. "It's no fun cooking alone. Why don't we have a chat. And I brought to much, so I could make some for you." I hoped he would stay.

"A chat? You mean, with me?" He asked, walking back to where he was. I started to look through the recipe book. I nodded.

"I'm not very fun to talk too." He still didn't make eye contact. We both stayed silent. The recipe book had a recipe that only needed turnips. It was to make Pickled Turnips. It seems pretty easy. I started to follow the recipe, err it was more of how to pickle than a recipe.

"……You live alone right Jill?" He asked.

I felt myself blush, why was he asking that?

"That must be a challenge." I shook my head. He continued. "Don't you get lonely?" I didn't know what to say, I had Koro and Ashie. I nodded anyway. He smiled. "I see. So you get lonely too then. But it must not be bad, since you have everybody in the valley and animals." He knew exactly what I was thinking. "Sorry to ask such weird questions, it was just on my mind."

"It's okay. I didn't mind." I said softly. I looked at the turnips. They looked about done. "There I'm done." I pulled out two plates, and forks, I handed one to Cliff. "Here." I took mine and pulled up a chair across from him.

Cliff looked at it, and took a bite. I watched to see if he liked it. "Mmmm. It's good, thank you Jill."

"Really, I'm glad." I took a bite myself, it was good, I was a natural chef.

After we finished I quickly washed the dishes. I said goodbye, he thanked me for the food.

"It was nice to meet you." He said waving bye.

I returned the wave. "Same to you."

I was in a good mood, I decided to go to the Goddess Pond. I started to pull up weeds, trying to make everything clean, I didn't even notice that night had fallen, I just continued to work. I heard footsteps come up behind me.

"Hello beautiful." I remembered that voice. "It's not safe for young girls to be walking around at night, you never know what might happen." His voice was right behind me, I felt his breath on my neck. Skye.

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Cliff has appeared, and Skye has rapidly returned.


	5. Love and Hate

Chapter 5

I turned around and looked at Skye, we were face to face now. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it." I started to walk away from him. I felt his hand on my wrist.

"Are you sure, you weren't able to stop me." He smirked. I was tired of his games.

"What is it that you want?" I asked not making eye contact.

"Nothing, I come here every night, I just happened to bump into a pretty girl." He flipped his silver hair. I tried to hide a giggle. He looked at me, his green eyes, were now even more slender. "What's so funny?"

"Well, you are obliviously full of yourself." I shot back at him.

He pulled me close. "Hehe, that's because I always get what I want."

I blushed. He looked at me. "Don't you agree Jill."

I shook my head. "No I don't." I freed myself from his grasp this time with ease. "Who would ever like somebody like you?"

"Well, beautiful somebody like you." He stood close to me again, his head was higher than mine was. He looked down at me, I looked up.

"No, I would never like somebody like you, you….. Thief!" I backed up again, and felt I had backed up into a tree, I rubbed my head, it hurt.

"I think you will." He came closer again, putting one hand over my head, and against the tree, so I couldn't escape.

"Let me go Skye!" I felt my heart speed up.

"Why? I told you I always get what I want." His face was really close now, our noses were almost touching. I turned my head. "What's the matter?"

"I hate you…" I muttered under my breath.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said. I HATE YOU!" I yelled, I pushed him I could feel his heartbeat with my hand for a brief second. It was almost as fast as mine. He released me. I felt tears form in my eyes. I ran away from the goddess pond, I could hear Skye call after me.

When I returned home. I flopped onto my bed, my face in the pillow and I cried wildly. I didn't know why I was crying, the tears just appeared. Koro and Ashie looked at me. They both looked sad.

"It's okay guys." I sniffled and wiped away a tear. "I'll be okay.."

A few days later, I had planted a new group of crops, a batch of turnips, potatoes, cucumbers, and cabbages. I breathed heavily after I had planted and watering them all, the sun was going down, I ran to Ruby's and took my shower, I had a little extra gold, so I decided to go to the bar and relax for a few hours.

When I walked in the bar, Muffy and Griffin were deep in conversation. They stopped talking when they saw me.

"Oh hi, Jill. You came at a good time."

"What's up Muffy?" I asked walking forward to the counter.

"We just received a note from Phantom Skye." Muffy looked a little frightened.

I gasped. Skye! I didn't want to see him.

Griffin pulled a little piece of paper. " 'I'm going to bless your bar with my presence at midnight for a drink. Phantom Skye.' He certainly loves himself. I nodded, angry at the thought of him.

"And sending a note saying he's coming makes him quite confident. I like that." Muffy giggled to herself. Griffin and I exchanged looks and rolled our eyes.

"Anyway, he's a thief we gotta corner him." Griffin said trying to get Muffy's attention back to catching Skye.

"That's right we'll make him pay for that drink." She said making a serious face for once.

"That's not what I meant." Griffin placed a hand on Muffy's shoulder.

Muffy giggled. "I'm only kidding!" She looked at me. "Do you have any time tonight Jill? We could really use your help to catch that arrogant thief."

I frowned. "I'd love to but…"

"Oh please Jill. It would mean so much if you would help us." Muffy put her hands together she looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"…..Okay. I'll help you catch him." I sighed.

Muffy clapped her hands together. "Thanks so much Jill." She ran up to me and gave me a hug. I patted her back, I was never good at hugs. "Your welcome."

"You'll need to be here between ten o` clock and midnight." Griffin pointed to the clock. It was almost nine thirty.

"Okay, I'll see you in a little bit." I waved goodbye. _So much for sitting in the bar and relaxing. _

When I returned Muffy and Griffin were talking again. "Oh Jill, you're here right on time."

I looked around to see if Skye was here yet. He wasn't.

Griffin caught up on my curiosity. "The phantom isn't here yet."

I looked at Muffy who had started to sniff the air. "Why do I smell curry?"

"Yeah.. That smells good." Griffin agreed.

Griffin ran out of the bar. Muffy followed.

"Hey, guys come back, what if Skye shows up?" I yelled.

"What if Skye shows up?" I heard his voice.

"Oh, it's you…" I glared at him.

"We meet again, my darling Jill." He came closer and stroked my hair. I slapped his hand.

"Save it Skye." I snarled at him.

He just ignored my remark. "Do you believe that fate has brought us together once again?"

I looked at him in disgust. "No. I'm here to catch you."

He looked sad. "……Hehe, being chased by maidens is a curse of mine."

"Don't get full of yourself now." I continued to glare.

His smile returned. "Anyway, I wonder if you could hold still for a moment."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"It wasn't a question." He flipped his hair with his hand.

"And what are you planning on doing to make me not move?" I asked in curiosity. I had started to move away from him, closer to the counter to grab anything.

"This." He stood in front of muttered something under his breath. Pointing his finger at me he said; "MAIDEN CHICK BEAM--FIRE!!"

I stood there for a second and burst out laughing. I went to hold my stomach, but my arms wouldn't move. "W-what the hell did you do!?"

"Just relax, you'll be able to move again soon." He started to move to the other side of the counter and looking at the assortment of alcohols.

"Damn, right, and when I can move I'm gonna kick your ass!" I spat, trying to move around, I was able to slightly fidget.

"Don't let your anger ruin your pretty face." He gave me an award winning smile.

"….." I didn't say anything, just glared at him. "Why are you a thief?"

He paused. "Actually I don't know why."

"Is just for fun?" He had to have a reason to be a thief.

"Hehe…That might be it….and that might not be it." He laughed.

I looked at him in wonder.

"You want to know more about me don't you?" He his face even had a slight shade of pink for once.

"No!……." It was just because I was stuck here. Right? "Well actually yes…." I admitted looking away.

"But if I tell you it'll take away the mystique out of our relationship." He paused and looked at me. "I know, if you can catch me Jill, I'll tell you anything you want to know."

I kept silent, for some reason I felt happy and now even more eager to catch him.

"That's odd. I could of sworn that great smell was coming from here." I heard Griffin's voice.

"Yeah, let's go back to the shop." Muffy agreed.

Skye looked alarmed. He started for the door, taking a bottle of wine with him. "Sorry, but I'm a bit pressed for time." He came close to me, placed his hand on my hair and whispered; "I'll see you around soon." He walked over to the door. "Gotta jet." He said winking. With that he dashed out the door.

Muffy and Griffin entered the bar, I stood there, and tried to move. I was able to move!

"Muffy, Griffin! Where did you go? Skye was here!" I walked over to them, happy to be able to move again.

"What? He was? The Phantom?" Muffy looked at me with accusing eyes. She walked over to a row of wine bottles. "He took the Okuhattan!"

"Are you okay Jill?" Griffin asked, his voice was calming.

I told them about Skye and his spell. They looked at me with disbelief.

"Wait! You were paralyzed by the Phantoms magic spell?" Muffy asked. I nodded. She looked angry.

"…………That's the Phantom for you." Griffin said, he seemed like he didn't much care that the wine had been stolen. "His gears are always turning."

Muffy walked up to me, her face now looked sad. "I'm sorry Jill. I just left you all alone."

"It's okay Muffy. I'm okay, and he only got one bottle." I tried to reassure her.

Griffin apologized and I left for the night, I walked home, keeping on looking to see if I could find Skye again. No such luck. I sighed. I went home, fell onto my bed and fell into a deep sleep.

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Sheesh, my computer got all messed up, and I had to reload this about three times. But here it is. Enjoy!


	6. I'm Sorry

Chapter 6

I looked at the crops in my field, they were growing more, most of them were almost ready to harvest. I wiped some sweat, and went to fill up my watering can. I placed the blue container into the water, and waited for the air bubbles to disappear, I pulled it out from the water. It felt heavier. I looked in the hole and saw a blue Harvest Sprite sleeping inside it. I smiled and poked the little creature. It woke up and popped out of my watering can.

"Thank you Jill. I'll help you anyway I can!" The peppy little creature, disappeared. A little note fell from the sky. 'Misty' it said.

I started to count in my head how many that was. I had saved about ten Harvest Sprites. Returning to my house, I looked at the Calendar, I had missed Spring Thanksgiving, but who would give me anything anyway, so it didn't effect me. It was now Spring sixteenth. I had already been living here for two weeks. I walked down to the Inn, for my daily shower and time in the kitchen. It was Saturday so Cliff would most likely be there. I blushed to myself. He was so shy it was cute.

I walked into the Inn and saw Cliff and Muffy talking. Cliff looked a little bit depressed. I started to walk forward. They both turned and looked at me. Muffy spoke first.

"Hi Jill."

"Hey…Jill." Cliff said softly, he didn't make any eye contact. I silently giggled. He was so shy.

"Jill could you come over here and help me out?" Muffy asked walking over away from Cliff.

I was a little confused, but I nodded and followed her. "This young man looked a little lonely, so I came over to talk with him. But he only says 'I' and 'uh'." She turned to Cliff. "Do you know how to say anything else?"

Cliff looked down at his feet. "I…uh…"

Muffy sighed. "See what I mean, Jill can you talk to him?" She walked away before I could even answer.

I walked over to Cliff. "Hey Cliff." I said smiling.

He looked away. "That was embarrassing. She caught me off guard with all those questions. I…I just froze up. She made an effort and I blew it. Pretty pitiful, aren't I?"

"Eh!? No Cliff your not pitiful. Don't let those type of things get to you." I said loudly trying to reassure him.

"Thanks Jill. It's kind of you to try and help me. I have to get over this shyness." He looked at me in the eye, I think for the first time. He grabbed my hands. "Since you're my friend Jill, I feel like I can tell you anything. You might be the only girl I've ever been able to talk with." He made a nervous laugh. I blushed at what he had said. He looked past me to Muffy. "I owe Muffy an apology."

"There you go. You go talk to Muffy." I said trying to cheer him on. He smiled back. "I gotta go take a shower upstairs." I waved goodbye to the two and headed upstairs, for my shower. I whistled a song while heading up the stairs. I hopped in the shower thinking of Cliff. He called me his friend. I suddenly realized I was sounding like a giggly school girl. That wasn't me. I was the one all the girls hated because I was best friends with the guys. I shook my head and breathed deeply trying to remember who I was. I was a tomboy, not somebody who got all giddy when a boy talked to her.

When I finished my shower I walked downstairs and stretched. Muffy and Cliff weren't in the Inn anymore. I felt a little disappointed. I wanted to talk with Cliff again today. But at least he was starting to open up. So I should be grateful for that, at least. I walked out into the sun and sighed. What should I do for the rest of the day? I had cleared the fields already, and they hadn't re-grown yet. It was just a little after noon, so the bar wouldn't be open yet. I decided to go the Goddess Pond, it was always my favourite place to go, it was so calming, when Katie and Hugh weren't there. I looked into the pond and sighed, it would be awhile until I was able to free her. I looked over at the Sprites Tree. It was a very large tree. "I'm gonna climb that tree." I said to myself. I ran to the tree and began to climb up it's large. I placed my feet into the divots of the trunk. When I reached the top I could see the whole valley. There Inner Inn looked so different from above, just plain. My farm was actually quite large. I saw Vesta's Farm father away. And Carters tent, and the waterfall. The valley was beautiful. I yawned. Lying down on a branch. I closed my eyes for a moment, and drifted off into a light sleep…..

I awoke to find my head was lying on something hard. But I felt a heartbeat. There was something wrapped around my waist. I felt my heartbeat increase. I looked in front of me and saw Skye's face, he was asleep. I wanted to scream in horror. How did he know I was up here? Why the hell did he come up here? Why was I snuggled up next to him? I looked at his face. He was cute while he slept. He looked innocent…for once. I Must have been staring at his face for only a few seconds when he opened one eye.

"You know, it's a very perverted thing to watch somebody while they're sleeping." He laughed.

"Yeah, well it's your fault for coming up here! Why did lie next to me?" I asked sitting up.

"Actually, beautiful, I heard you call out my name, so I climbed up the tree. I found you sleeping, you then grabbed me, so I had no choice but to lie down. It was all your doing." He said sitting up.

I felt my face blush, I was dreaming of Skye, but it was more of her catching him and him going to jail. "I…I."

He put a finger on my lips. "You don't have to say anything. Your sleeping self is more aware than your conscience self." He smiled.

I rolled my eyes. He was good at getting on my nerves. "Well sorry to burst your bubble, but I think I'll be leaving now. I started to stand but Skye had grabbed my hand and pulled me down into his lap. "Ah.. Skye what are you doing!?" I asked, his arms were now around my chest, clutching me closer. I was blushing…. a lot.

"Just having a bit of fun." He laughed. I could feel his breath on my neck, it made my skin tingle. "Look, at the moon. It's almost as beautiful as you are."

I looked up at his face, there was no hint of humour, he looked serious. I turned away and felt myself turn redder. I felt happy inside. The moon was actually quite beautiful. I was enjoying just sitting here watching it, even if it was with Skye. "Skye…… Why do you do things like this?" I asked in curiosity looking up at his face.

"Like what?"

"Like not letting me leave and saying those things?"

"Because Jill, you deserve them. You are more beautiful than the moon. And there's something about you that I can't resist." He looked into my eyes. His green eyes seemed to look into my soul. My heart started to beat faster.

"Skye…." I mumbled.

"Hmmm?"

"I'm sorry…" I looked away, not making eye contact anymore.

"About what?" I could still feel his gaze on me.

"I said I hated you, I really don't, I'm sorry." I felt guilty now, and I felt a small tear try to escape, I held it back.

"You have no need to apologize Jill." I looked back at him, our eyes met, we were only about an inch or two apart. He began to lean in. I turned my head, cutting him off. I heard him make a tiny laugh.

I paused for a second unsure what to say next. "You know how you said that if I caught you, you would tell anything I wanted to know." He nodded. "Well I want to know more."

He shook his finger. "You haven't caught me yet."

"But isn't this close enough?" I asked looking back up at him. Turning around each time to look at him is really gonna hurt my neck.

"No, because I've caught you." He quickly made me turn around so I was able to face him without turning. I looked up into his eyes. They were glued to mine. I glanced down at his lips. And quickly back up to his eyes. He must of caught up with me, because he began to lean towards me, I backed up slightly, but his hand was on the back of my head. I actually felt relieved he had stopped me. He was very close now, I could feel his breath on my face. I closed my eyes. His lips pressed against mine, I melted into the kiss. His hand began to stroke my hair. My hands were on his chest, the tightened into fists. It was so innocent and sweet. I opened my eyes for a second, Skye was still deep in the kiss. I closed my eyes again, He started to lean forward even more, until I was lying on the tree, and he had me pinned. This time I enjoyed it. Unsure what I should do, considering I had never experienced something like this before, I opened my mouth ever so slightly, in case he wanted me too. Skye picked up on it and slid his tongue in my mouth. It felt wonderful the way he made his tongue dance in my mouth. He stopped suddenly and looked at my face. The moonlight behind him, made his silver hair shine even more. He returned to kissing me, I felt happy. He stopped again but this time, he began to kiss my jaw line and then onto my neck. I gasped, at the way it felt. Clenching my fists, I thought of how the girls I knew in high school had done this, even more. Suddenly I felt as though I had missed out. I did have chances, but I didn't take them. Skye stopped and looked at my face once again and sat up.

"Why are you stopping?" I asked putting my hands on his arms.

"It's going to be morning soon, and I don't think I would be able to stop myself if I continued."

I sighed and agreed that would be best. We began to climb down the tree. When we got to the bottom of the tree, we walked hand in hand silent. I realized that I was attracted to Skye the entire time, but I thought it had been hate. When we got to the path leading to my Ranch Skye kissed, me. He pulled me close and whispered; "I love you."

My eyes widened, and I felt my stomach begin to churn. I pulled myself away from Skye and looked up at his face. "I'm sorry Skye. I can't return your feelings."

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Mwahaha Cliff-hanger, and now I'm thinking of maybe changing the rating to M. I have some ideas floating around in my perverted head. If you have any thoughts on if I should or not, write a review


	7. I Can't See You

Chapter 7

Weeks past after that night, we haven't spoken since that night. Not a word. I still met Cliff every Saturday at the Inn and we would have lunch together. He had started to open up. We would take walks to the Goddess Pond and look out at the waterfall. I still thought of Skye everyday and thought about seeing him at night. But since I turned him down, I figured he would hate me.

It was hot today. It was Summer twenty-third, the day before the Fireworks festival. I had never been to the festival here. In the city we would all dress up in kimono's and there would be booth's set up. Muffy had said that usually all the girls and guys would go out, but this year so far nobody had asked anybody else. So the girls had decided to all get dressed up and watch them together. In my mind all I could think of was going with Skye, but we weren't speaking. Cliff would be leaving tonight. I stared off into the distance.

"Is there something on you mind Jill?" Cliff asked me, his eyes were full of sadness. He was so empathetic.

"….." I didn't want lie to Cliff, but I didn't want to ruin my relationship with him. "No nothing, just thinking about things."

"Would you mind sharing them with me?" He asked giving me his sad boy eyes. I could barely resist them.

"Sorry Cliff… It's a personal matter." I said in a low tone looking away.

"Oh… okay then." He tried to put on a happy face. I could tell he was disappointed. That was the one thing I didn't like about Cliff, he was too clingy and wanted to know everything. But I tried to not think about that. He was sweet. I looked up at the sky, I started to think of Skye. The sun was starting to go down and I didn't want to run into him yet. I wasn't ready to face him.

"Cliff, we should go back to the Inn.. It's starting to get dark out." I said pulling on his arm.

He nodded and we walked back to the inn. We both stayed silent.

When we arrived, we made our goodbyes I had to get to bed early so I could finish my farm work before the girls arrived, we decided to get together at my house. I now had a barn and chicken coop so I was busier than before.

"Well, I'll see you around Cliff." I started to walk away. I felt Cliff's hand on my arm.

"Wait Jill." Cliff looked at me, his face was red. "I've really enjoyed spending time with you…" He looked away. "And I've started to come to…well….like you more as a friend."

I felt my face turn red. "What are you saying Cliff?"

"I'm not saying I'm in love with you or anything, but……. I do have feelings for you."

I looked at his face, he had put on his puppy dog eyes. "Cliff…." I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "I don't know. I'm at a hard place in my life. I can't give you an answer yet."

He nodded, looking hurt. "I-it's okay Jill. I can wait. I'll see you later." He waved and disappeared inside the inn.

Sighing I began to walk back to my farm. I turned and looked at the bridge where I had seen Skye walk along many times before. I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Kneeling to the ground, I clutched my chest and let some tears fall.

"Jill?" I heard a familiar soft voice, I turned around and saw Skye standing behind me. His face looked worried. My eyes widened.

"Skye.." I hid my face. I tried to wipe away the tears. I felt his hand on my shoulder. He stood me up, I looked into his eyes, they didn't look the same as they were before.

"Are you okay Jill?" Skye asked wiping a tear from my face. I felt my face tingle.

I looked away. I couldn't do this, not now. I wasn't ready to face him. "I'm sorry." I mumbled. I dashed away from him. I could hear him call after me. Tears filled my face. I knew that Skye wouldn't dare chase after me. I flew into my house and flopped onto the bed, sobbing into the pillows, I fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning at six o` clock as usual. I watered my crops. They were ready for the first harvest, but I didn't feel like it today. I walked into my chicken coop first. A chorus of clucking greeted me as I walked in. I had three chickens in total. One was coming though. I placed the bird feed in the feeders. They all began to peck away at the seeds. In the barn, my cow Belle mooed when I entered. I gave her a quick snuggle and placed all of their food into their bins. Wooly my newest addition to the barn. He baaed as I brushed his back. He was almost ready to be sheared again. Waving goodbye to the animals, I made my way to the Inn for my shower. Nami and I had planned to walk back to my house together afterwards.

I quickly hopped in and out of the shower. Nami was waiting down by the door, a little bag in her hand. I didn't think she had anything that would ever be girly.

Back at my house Muffy, Celia, Lumina and Flora were all waiting outside. They carried large bags. They must be holding the kimonos. I let them all in. We didn't get dressed just yet. I had Gotz upgrade my house, so I know had a kitchen. I put the pot on to start boiling the water for tea. I wasn't much interested in the Fireworks Festival tonight there were two things on my mind; Cliff and Skye. We were all kneeling around my little table, the pillows on the ground were actually quite comfortable.

When the tea was done boiling I poured everybody a glass and we all began to chat. I kept silent.

"Are you okay Jill? You seem down." Celia looked at me. Her big brown eyes stared at me.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I shook my head. I wasn't in the mood.

"Don't lie to us Jill. We all know your thinking about a guy." Muffy said peppily. The other girls nodded in agreement.

Nami was the next to speak. "it's Cliff right? You two are always together when he comes to visit."

Muffy looked at me. "Cliff? He's sooo dreamy. So shy and secretive. I didn't know you two were an item."

"We're not!" I shot back a little loudly. Muffy looked a little shocked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

"So then there must be someone else? Right Jill?" Lumina piped in.

"Yeah Jill, spill!" Muffy returned to her peppy attitude quite quickly.

Muffy and Lumina began to try and get me to spill about Skye. I couldn't tell them about him, they wouldn't understand. Lumina had gone gaga over him and Muffy wasn't to thrilled over him. I heard a loud thump on the table. Our tea all shook and a little spilled on the table. It was Flora!

"She obliviously doesn't want to talk about it!" Flora looked a little agitated.

"Sorry Jill." Muffy and Lumina said together their heads were hung low.

"It's okay." I looked at the time. It was one o` clock. "We should start getting ready, it starts at six." I started to get up and gather everybody's tea. Lumina walked over to the bags and began to pull kimonos out. They all looked so expensive.

"We should all pick which ones we want." Lumina chimed in. I could see her eyeing a pale green one, it must be the most expensive one.

It took us about an hour to decide which ones we wanted, considering getting side tracked almost every few minutes. Being with them made me forget about Skye and Cliff. In the end we all had ones were satisfied with. Celia had an emerald green one with a pattern of leaves on it. Her obi was a lighter green, with a gold rope tied around. Muffy was wearing a red kimono with a dragon print on the front. It was beautiful. Her obi was a pale blue, she didn't have a rope. Nami was wearing a sky blue kimono, a image of the sea was on the bottom the waves looked like crystals they were so beautiful. Flora was wearing an tan kimono, it had a tree branch pattern on it. It made you think of fall. Lumina got the one she was eyeing. It was just a pale green with a gold edges around the openings. I was wearing a purple kimono, it matched my eyes. There design was cherry blossoms dancing in the wind. The sleeves were long and smooth, the fabric felt like silk. My obi was a pale pink and the robe was gold. They all gasped and looked at me.

"Jill that looks so good on you!" Celia cried.

I blushed a little, it felt nice coming from Celia, she was one of the most prettiest girls I had ever met.

Muffy smiled and reached for a bag she had brought. "Now it's time for hair!" She pointed at Nami. "You first! I want to see you more girly." Nami just looked at her and shrugged. Nami sat in a chair next to my mirror while Muffy started to play with her hair. She fiddled with it for awhile until deciding to take the ends of bangs and pull them back, she began to make a tiny braid. She finished it with a small little flower tied in the back. Nami then went to go sit with Lumina who had set up a little makeup station.

"Next!" Muffy called. Celia went and sat down. Muffy took off the bandana she always wore and started to wisp her hair up to bao's. She left hair dangling. We said she looked like sailor moon, all she needed was the little red lights in her hair and a tiara. Flora was next to Muffys station. She took her hair out of the pony it was always in, Muffy stared at her hair for a moment unsure what she could do, she decided on a loose bun on the back of her head, a few strands dangled out of place. I gulped knowing it was my turn. I sat down in front of the mirror as Muffy pulled my hair out of its high ponytail. I felt my hair touch the mid of my back.

"Oh Jill, you have such pretty hair! You should wear it down more often." Muffy exclaimed, she had started to just play with my hair.

"I would but it gets in my way when I'm working and I'm too much of a chicken to get it cut." I admitted.

"I don't think I want to do anything to your hair, it's so pretty." Muffy sat and thought for a moment. She snapped her fingers and plugged in a curling iron, it was a pretty fast iron because it only took a few minutes to heat up, she began to lightly curl the tips of my hair, just give my straight hair a bit of life. She made me stand up and flip my hair. I did as I was told. She sprayed a light layer of hair spray in my hair, I coughed. "There done. Lumina your turn." Lumina shook her head at Muffy.

"My haircut cost two hundred thousand gold. Your not touching it." Muffy just shrugged and began to do her own hair. I thought I might throw up. Lumina was really rich. I knew she was rich but not that rich.

Muffy began to play with her own hair. She took out the headband she always wore and pulled it back into a simple ponytail. Her curly hair flared out at the sides. When Lumina finished with the make-up it was a little past five thirty. We all started for the door when Nami stopped us.

"Wait! I brought something." She walked over to the little bag she had brought and pulled out six little fans. We all smiled in delight. But Nami wasn't finished yet. She then pulled out little paper lanterns. We all gave Nami a hug and headed down for the beach.

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For those of you who don't know what an obi is look here: An obi as the sash around the kimono.


	8. Just the Girls

Chapter 8

We arrived at the beach a little after six. The sun was still setting so everybody just chatted. I wasn't in the mood for talking. I went and sat down at the little booth that Kai ran.

"Something bothering you Jill?" Kai asked while drying a glass.

"Nah…. Well yeah… Everything." I admitted resting my head on the table.

"….." Kai sighed. I was sure he didn't feel like that ever. He always seemed so carefree. "Are you alone tonight Jill?"

"Nope. The girls and I all came together." I looked over at everyone, they were all paired up with boys. Muffy and Griffin. Celia and Marlin. Lumina and Rock. Nami and Gustafa. And finally Carter and Flora. I sighed they all had little pairings, but none of them had the guts to make a move, not even Rock. "I get the feeling that I will be alone now though."

Kai laughed. I felt his hand on my head. He was like a big brother. He slid a glass full of juice with a little umbrella and lemon in it. "Be careful with this it had a bit of a kick to it." He pointed to a little bottle of alcohol behind the counter. He put a straw in the drink.

I put my head up. "Thanks." I took the drink and slurped some out. I have never been big on alcohol except for Griffins. But this one tasted quite good. I began to drink it a little faster now. I felt a hand come down on my head. "Ow. What was that for?" I asked rubbing my head.

"You are drinking quite fast. Your still a minor right?" I looked at him. The hypocrite! He just served me the drink.

"Actually, I'm eighteen."

"Here the legal drinking age is nineteen." He started to take my drink away. I grabbed it back and began to drink it. He chuckled. "You remind of Karen from Mineral Town."

Mineral Town…. That's where Claire is.

Celia ran up to me and grabbed my arm. "The fireworks are starting Jill! Come one!" She said happily. I nodded and walked with her waving bye the Kai, and leaving the rest of my drink there. He waved back. "So since when are you and Kai so close?"

"We're not, we're just friends. He's more like a big brother, who can get me booze." I snorted. Celia chuckled.

The girls had a large blanket set out on the ground, they were all chatting and out lanterns were all lined up, I was saving mine to light for afterwards.

"Oh good Jill, you're here. They're about to start." Muffy said, she pulled me down and we looked out at the ocean.

I heard a firework go off. It made a large boom and the sky turned a emerald green. It reminded me of Skye's eyes. I felt a stab in my heart. I really did miss him. Why did I turn him down? Well I knew why, I didn't love him. But if I didn't why did it hurt this much? Another firework went off making a bunch of lights and colours in the sky. I looked over at Kai, he was snuggled up with Popuri, a girl from Mineral Town who came to learn form Takakura every Sunday. I could see her brother Rick glaring at the two, Karen cuddled his arm, she looked a little tipsy. Cliff wasn't here, I didn't expect him too. For some reason I thought that she might come, but I suppose that some people from Mineral Town were watching their own fireworks.

"Uh excuse me….." I heard Rocks voice, he was wearing a blue haori. "But Lumina, would you like to watch the fireworks with me?"

Lumina looked at us, as if to ask. We nodded in her approval. She mouthed the words thank you. After Rock first made his move everybody else began to walk over and ask the girls to watch with them. Griffin asked Muffy. Then Gustafa asked Nami. Carter even asked Flora. That left me and Celia.

"Uh Celia." We both looked up and saw Marlin standing there. "Would you like to watch the fireworks with me?" He asked her. He looked away.

"Sorry Marlin… But, I'm watching the fireworks with Jill." Celia apologized to him. He looked a little hurt but then just shrugged and walked away.

"You didn't have to do that, I'm fine on my own."

"I did it because I wanted to. Marlin will get over it soon. I wanted to spend some time with my friend." She gave me a quick hug. "We haven't spoken much, and I want to get to know you better." She was so sweet.

We sat together and watched the fireworks. I smiled, I hadn't had a friend like Celia since Claire, we had been best friends since kindergarten, I couldn't let a little fight ruin that. I figured that I should call her soon. But tonight was just about being with friends. Err friend.

When the fireworks ended. The girls walked back to us and apologized for leaving us alone. Celia and I said it was okay. We grabbed out lanterns and fans and made our way home.

We dropped Nami off first.

"I'll give you back the kimono tomorrow Lumina." Nami said as she headed into the Inn.

Lumina chuckled. "Don't worry about it, they weren't that expensive. Only a couple hundred thousand. You can all keep them." I now really felt like I was going to throw up.

When everybody was at home, I trailed home and wondered if Skye would show up. He most likely wouldn't though. There were too many people about tonight, so it wouldn't be a very good idea. I stood by the entrance to my farm for a few minutes. He didn't come, I didn't expect him too. But I hoped he did.

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Short chapter, I know, but I just wanted to put this one down. Jill needed a new friend. And the whole Kai thing, don't look to much into it. He most likely won't be a big character. But I will give Celia a bigger role. She has been my fave since my first Harvest Moon dose. XD And sorry to those who were hoping Skye would appear, but I wanted to make this one just the girls. And I know Jill sounds like Bella from Twilight. (Or at least my friend thinks that, I never read the book) So I will update soon!


	9. I'll Tell You a Secret

Chapter 9

I awoke the next morning, to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I threw a pillow at the window. My head hurt a little. How much alcohol had Kai put in that drink? I didn't feel drunk last night or even a little tipsy, but I never got like that when I drank. I walked into the kitchen and took an aspirin. I swallowed it and got dressed ready to get to work.

I finished my farm work quite fast. Over the weeks I had grown used to it and quicker. It was only about ten thirty. I decided that for the rest of my day I would go mining. I grabbed my hoe and hammer, and a few pieces of grasses, which I found tasted quite good and were helpful at keeping me from passing out. I guess they were a all natural coffee.

When I arrived to the excavation site, I saw Flora and Carter deep in conversation. I felt the same mood when Muffy and Griffin asked me to help them catch Skye.

"Hey guys.. What's going on?" I piped in.

"Oh, Jill great timing, we could use your help." Carter said while fixing his glasses, they were funny, just sitting on his nose. No backs or anything.

"A note came from Phantom Skye!" Flora cried.

"What!? Skye!?" I felt a little excited.

Carter pulled out his note and began to read; " 'At midnight, I'll be helping myself to the valuables in your tent. ~Phantom Skye.'" Carter crumpled the paper up. "That two-bit good-for-nothing snake-in-the-grass of a thief."

I looked at him, his face was red with anger. "Calm down Carter.." I muttered.

Flora looked sad. "We'll be set back for days, if he takes our artefacts."

Carter snapped his fingers. "I have a plan. If you lend us a hand, we can catch that thief. What do you say?"

"Of course I'll help! When do you want to come over?"

"Any time between ten and midnight."

"I'll be there!" I piped in.

Flora gave me a hug. "Thank you Jill. Thank you so much."

"No problem, it's my pleasure." I hugged her back.

"See you at ten!" I waved bye and into the mines. I did a quick mining, enough to make about twenty thousand gold. And I went down to Celia's. She had invited me over yesterday.

"So, your helping Flora and Carter catch Phantom Skye." Celia said.

I nodded. I wanted to tell Celia about me and Skye, but I was unsure how she would react. The thought of Skye made my face turn a light shade of pink.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked me.

I turned away. "N-nothing."

Celia looked at me with her big brown eyes. I couldn't not tell her. "All right, but you can't tell anybody that I told you this."

Celia pulled the hair away from her ears. "Oh wait a minute." She jumped up and looked downstairs. "Okay, nobody is the house right now." She grabbed a pillow and hugged it.

I started to tell her about Skye. "We met at the beginning of Spring. He had stolen my most valuable possession. Well it's a sentimental value. It was the dog tag my father had in the war. He died when I was very young barely even one. He had given to my mother who died about a year ago. Anyway, that night we 'bumped' into each other." I described the night Skye and I met. I then went into when I helped Muffy and Griffin out at the bar. Then the night at the Goddess Pond. I saw Celia's face light up, she started to go into a dreamy state when I told her of the Goddess Pond. But she looked sad when I told of my rejection to him. "………We saw each other the night before the Fireworks Festival, but we didn't say anything."

Celia looked at me with concerned eyes. "I don't know what to say. It sounds like out of one of those romance books." She paused. "What about you and Cliff?"

I didn't know what to say, I told her about Cliff saying he wanted to be more than friends.

Celia was about to say something when I looked at the time. It was eleven thirty and I hadn't even noticed it. "Ahhhh! I gotta go, Celia I'm a half an hour late!" I waved bye and dashed out of her house and up to Flora and Carters tent. I ran in out of breath.

"Are you okay Jill?" Flora asked me.

I nodded. "F-fine."

"Thanks for coming, the phantom hasn't arrived yet." Carter said. "We'll have to wait awhile."

We waited for about half an hour. He still hadn't shown. I started to feel anxious.

Flora looked disappointed. "Phantom Skye still hasn't shown up. Maybe he forgot."

Carter suddenly looked angry. "That dirty thief might be stealing goods right from the dig site, at this very moment!!" He headed for the door. "Let's head out Flora. Jill you stay here just in case." They disappeared out of the tent leaving me on my own.

I heard footsteps come up to the tent. It must be Skye! I saw the silver hair, shine as the tent doors opened.

"I had a feeling we'd meet tonight." Skye said in his usual smooth tone.

I didn't know what to say, or even what to do. I fought back the tears. "Skye……" I looked down at the ground.

I felt his hand on my chin, he lifted up my face. I looked into his eyes. He didn't seem hurt or angry just glad to see me. "I may of sent a note, but I didn't come to steal anything. I came to see you Jill, but I'm sure you knew that."

I nodded. "I'm so sorry Skye. I'm sorry I didn't give you an answer that night. I'm sorry I ran away from you two nights ago. I'm just so sorry."

I felt his arms wrap around me. "What are you sorry about. You were honest, I'm grateful for that. But I have to ask, have you changed your mind?"

I nodded. "I don't know if I love you yet Skye, but I do have feelings for you, I really do. I just need a little more time to figure things out."

He tightened his grasp on me. "I can wait Jill, I could wait forever just to hear you say 'I love you'." He looked into my eyes, leaned in and we kissed for a moment. "Let's get out of here Jill, let's go somewhere. Those two could come back any moment." I nodded, he grabbed my hand and we walked out of the tent. I could hear Carter and Flora chatting in the excavation site.

We walked down to the beach. It was different tonight it was quiet. And relaxing. We both stood at the edge of the water and looked into the ocean, I watched the waves come in and out.

"Skye…." I mumbled.

"Hmm?" He looked at my face his eyes were staring into mine.

"I l-l-l-…..Let's go swimming!" I yelled. He looked surprised, a little disappointed and then smiled.

"Sure." He started to take off his over shirt. I felt myself blush. He looked over at me, and laughed. "Well don't just stare at me, Aren't you getting in the water too?" I turned redder and nodded. I didn't want to get undressed in front of him, it would be too hard for me to do. I ran up to Kai's booth and started to get undressed. He chuckled. "You know I'm still going to see you in the end when you finish. I saw him start to unbuckle his belt.

"I know, but it's still awkward." I admitted, I wasn't sure if I should take my hair down or not. It was the only thing left I needed to do.

Skye walked up to me and peeked over the edge of the booth. I pushed him away. "Heh, no need to be so shy." I blushed and sighed, I decided to have my hair down, I pulled the little elastic out of my hair and shook my head. The ponytail gave my hair a bit of volume and wave. Skye gasped. He didn't say anything. But he did do something. He leaned over and put his hands on my waist, he pulled me up and I felt like I was flying through the air.

"Sk-Skye! What are you doing?" I asked. He had started to just hold me up in the air.

"Just helping my angel out." He smirked. He put me back down to the ground, pulled me close and we stood there for a moment lost in a kiss.

I pulled away first. "I though we were going for a swim?" I started for the water, I ran into it. It was warm. "Come on." Skye smiled and ran into the water. I dunked my head and began to swim around. I hadn't been swimming since the first day of summer, I haven't had the time. I felt a hand on my waist once again. Skye pulled me up out of the water, and pulled me in for a kiss. I complied, we stood there for a few seconds. "You aren't very good at swimming."

"How could I swim, when something so beautiful is right here."

I turned red. His words always now got to me. We returned to kissing, Skye began to become more physical, he trailed his fingers up along the side of my body. His hand soon met the back of my bra strap. I pulled away. "Skye…..No….I'm not ready for anything like that." I looked away.

"Of course." He said very kindly.

"……..I should head back to the tent, they're probably wondering where I am."

Skye nodded, we began to walk out of the water. I quickly got dressed, my clothes clung to my body. I swept my hair back up into a ponytail. I would just tell them that I chased Skye but lost my footing and fell in the water.

We said our goodbyes at the path to Mineral Town. I gave him a kiss and waved goodbye. I then walked up to the tent where Carter and Flora sat, they looked worried.

"Hey guys."

Flora jumped up and looked at me. "Jill what happened to you!?" She rushed to grab a towel. "Your all wet!"

I tried to make my voice sound sad, I was even able to make a little sniffle. "I saw Skye I chased him but I lost my foot near the water and I fell in. I let him get away." I started to sniffle a little covering my eyes.

"Oh Jill, it's okay. You don't have to worry about, nothing was taken, you stopped him."

"Your right Flora, nothing was stolen." I made my voice sound happier.

Flora nodded. "Come on, I'll walk you home. It'd late, it's not safe to be out at this time of night." I nodded and Flora walked me home, I fell into my bed that night, I didn't care that I was still wet, I had made up with Skye, I still wasn't sure of my feelings, but I knew there was something there. And that was enough, for now.

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T is still safe right? They didn't do anything, and they were still wearing underclothes so don't worry, nothing sexual was going on, just a little makeout. X3


	10. Message from the Author

A message from the Author:

I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to update as often as I would like, I have been really busy lately so I haven't gotten around to writing, but if you sit tight and wait I will update as much as I can, I'm not to busy today so I should be able to get the next chapter up.


	11. The storm

Chapter 10

The next morning I awoke and felt a little drowsy. Sniffling I dragged my body out of bed and over to the kitchen for breakfast. I made some cornflakes and ate them right there at the counter. I slurped the milk up after I was done, I put the dishes in the sink, I wasn't in a good enough mood to do any dishes this early in the morning. At my dresser I grabbed my usual clothes, a orange and white T-shirt with Bokumono on the front, blue jeans, and a green sweater that I always had around my waist in case the weather changed. I pulled my hair up into it's usual high ponytail, there was still a wave to it from last night. I walked to the door and slipped on my sneakers which were starting to wear. I grabbed my tools that I would need for my work from the tool box, and headed out the door. I sneezed as soon as I left the house. Takakura looked at me from his house.

"You better not be getting sick, you don't want to miss the end of summer."

I nodded and made a weak smile. "I'll be okay, just a little sniffle."

He nodded back and left the land for the valley ahead.

I headed over to my area of crops. I had just recently harvested my crops yesterday, but I still had corn and tomatoes left. I watered them. Looking up at the sun it looked as though it was only about nine or ten. I headed over to the chicken coop and fed the little chickens, the egg looked about ready to hatch, it should be tomorrow. I gathered the eggs, and headed over to the barn where my cow Belle greeted me, she knew that when I came in the morning she would be getting her fodder and a good brush. She wasn't ready to milk yet though, but since I ordered clothes from May in Mineral Town so often as I could, she would send me free milk with my purchases. I finished with Belle and walked over to Wooly who was waiting patiently for his turn. I began to brush his fluffy back, he baaed, I laughed, it was so cute his baa, he was only a little older than Belle, but he still looked like a lamb. Or so May had told me when I ordered him from her farm with her grandpa. I waved goodbye to my animals and headed off to the Inn, the sun was high in the sky. I was slower today than usual.

I finished with my time at the Inn and headed down to Vesta's Farm to go see Celia. I sneezed again and headed across the bridge where I saw Marlin and Vesta working in the fields.

"Where's Celia?" I asked as I walked over to the two who looked very determined to finish their work, they looked almost done.

"She's in the house preparing us lunch. She said for you to just let yourself in." Marlin muttered under his breath. I could barely hear him, but I nodded and headed for the house.

I opened the door and saw Celia who was in the kitchen, she looked like she had just finished making some sandwiches.

She turned. "Jill! I'm so glad you're here. You have to tell me about last night!" She said excitedly, she grabbed two sandwiches from the counter, grabbed my arm and pulled me up to her room. "So, tell me everything." She looked at me with her big brown eyes. She took a bite of her sandwich. I chuckled a little at her sudden hungriness. I felt rather hungry myself, I took a large bite, swallowed and began to tell her about last night.

"When I saw him, I felt like falling to the ground and begging for forgiveness. He said he was grateful that I had been honest with him. We went down the beach and went for a swim, but we didn't do much swimming…" I admitted, I could feel myself turn a light shade of red.

Celia's eyes filled with a side I hadn't seen on her before, she bit her lip and chuckled. "You guys got busy then?" She smirked.

"N-n-no!" I shot back, I waved my hands in front of my face. "I mean, we did make out a little, I think he wanted to, but I didn't."

Celia looked a little disappointed. "Oh, then you want to wait until your married?"

I shook my head. "I don't believe in the whole abstinence idea, I will have sex when I know I'm in love, but I don't know what I feel yet."

I felt her hand on my back. "Oh Jill.. I didn't mean to upset you, I was just curious."

"You didn't upset me, it's just what I feel." I looked down at my feet.

"I believe the same thing, so don't worry about it." She gave me a cheerful smile.

"Really? So then have you and Marlin… well you know?"

Celia shook her head. "We haven't said it too each other yet, and well it would be hard with Vesta right there, and Marlin hasn't even ever been in my room."

I was taking a bite when I heard her say that. I almost choked. "Are you serious? And you live together?"

She nodded. "Pathetic isn't it?"

I shook my head. "Skye hasn't been in my house at all, neither has Cliff, in fact the only guy who has while I've been living here was Takakura, and he doesn't really count."

We both laughed and began to chat about out relationships, I looked at the clock in her room, it was a little after four. I sneezed again.

"Are you okay Jill? You've been sneezing a lot."

I nodded. "I'm just a bit chilly from last night."

"What happened last night?" I heard Vesta's loud voice coming from up the stairs.

I gasped. "O-oh, I was helping Flora and Carter catch a thief last night, I was chasing after him and I fell in the water by the bridge." I lied, well it was a half lie.

Celia looked away, I could tell she was bad at lying, would she be able to keep my secret?

Vesta nodded. "Well you better be more careful." She looked at the plates that were on Celia's bed. "I just came up for your guys' plates."

I jumped up and handed her the plates, to get her gone as soon as possible.

I left a little after six, I stayed for dinner, which I enjoyed my cooking wasn't nearly as good as Celia's. I thanked them all and headed home. I wasn't up to seeing Skye tonight so I went home and crashed early.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of heavy wind outside my window. I had forgot to check the weather forecast the night before. I went to the kitchen and made breakfast as usual. I got dressed and opened my door. I heard a loud smash outside. I closed my door and fell back, something had hit my barn! Ashie hissed and Koro barked. I hushed the animals and headed out to my barn to see what had happened. I saw a large branch in the window of the barn. The branch had blown off the tree in front of it. I could hear Belle and Wooly making noises from inside the barn. I ran as fast as I could against the wind, and pushed open the barn doors. The wind entered with me. Belle and Wooly looked frightened. I walked back and closed the doors. The wind may have been against me, but it was still hard to close. I fell to the ground and sighed heavily. Belle walked over to me, kneeled down and rested her head on my lap. I smiled and thanked her. I looked at the window which had rain starting to come through. I looked in the corner and saw a piece of wood that looked big enough to cover the window. Luckily I kept an extra hammer in here and some nails just in case something like this happened. I set to work patching up the window before it could do anymore damage. I fed the animals, and began the short journey over the chicken coop. I could hear the chickens clucking wildly from outside. I opened the little shack which I was surprised hadn't blown away. I saw all the chickens running around in horror. They all looked at me as I entered, they looked relieved. I sighed in relief that they were all there. I fed them but as I was about to leave I heard a small crack. I thought for sure that the wood was starting to crack in wind and rain. I turned and saw something other than cracking wood. Instead I saw the small egg that was in the incubator begin to crack. I ran back over the little stand, glad that I hadn't stepped on any chickens. I watched as the small protective casing crumbled. I could see a little yellow patch come out of the white egg.

After about three minutes or so the chick was out of the egg. I smiled at the little creature, who was taking their first breath of air, sadly I couldn't remember which chicken had actually laid the egg, but they all watched in amazement. I picked up the little guy.

"I'm going to name you Stormy." The little chick chirped when I gave it it's name. The other chickens joined in, as if to agree with me.

The first birth on my farm happened. I felt so happy. I placed Stormy on the ground, the other chickens gathered around him. I left them and made my way back to my house.

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Yay an update after a long time, I know there is no Skye or even Cliff, but I didn't want to add it in for this chapter. Jill needs to be a little less of a guy mangent, I actually envy her. And she's not even real..... So enjoy. Please leave a review, I love it when you guys leave comments.


	12. On a Date

Chapter 11

I had developed a cold from the storm, considering I hadn't used a jacket while leaving my house. Luckily Takakura did my work for me, I could hear him cursing as he watered the crops, he complained about how his back was bad. Celia brought me vegetable soup. I was lucky that the cold had settled down by Saturday. I wanted to see Cliff, even though we had an embarrassing departing from last time. It was the last day of summer. Before I even started my work I went down to the beach to say my goodbyes to Kai. I still thought of him as a big brother and I wanted to say good-bye properly.

"I'll miss you Kai.." I said looking down at the ground.

He rubbed my head. "Don't worry about it kid. You'll see me next year." He smiled, I smiled back. We gave each other a quick hug and I returned to my farm, I didn't need to water my crops just feed the animals.

I finished my work quite fast. When I was in my house at around eleven thirty I heard a knock at the door. I was cooking lunch in the kitchen. I took off the apron I had on and headed over to the door. I saw familiar brown hair with blonde tips pulled back. I couldn't see his face he was looking away. It was Cliff.

"Hey Jill…" I heard him say, his hand was on the back of his head. He looked around nervously.

"Oh! Hi Cliff. Is something wrong? I didn't know you knew where I lived."

He shook his head. "N-no, I was just wondering, well if you had any spare time, if you would like to uh…. Go on a date." His face turned bright red, and he looked away as if he thought I was going to just laugh in his face.

"Oh, okay sure! Just let me finish up in the kitchen. Would you like some lunch?" I asked walking out of the doorway to let him come in.

"Oh! I'm going to bother you I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do out of pity." He looked a little shy again. He must still be uneasy after what happened last week.

"I'm not doing it out of pity. It's my pleasure to go on a date with you. But lets have lunch first. I'm starved." I said walking over to the kitchen I put back on my apron and began to chop up some carrots I had gotten from Celia. "Make yourself at home."

Cliff nodded. I saw him look around nervously. He decided to sit down on a pillow I had on the ground next to my table. It was very traditional. "You like curry right?" I asked in curiosity as I put the carrots into the boiling water.

"Yes. Curry is my favourite." He looked happy now.

"Good, do you have a preference in colour?" I asked in curiosity. I had a few herbs left over that I didn't sell. I remembered somebody else who liked curry as well. I hadn't noticed it before but Skye always seemed to have a faint smell of curry on him.

He shook his head. "No any colour is good, I like them all."

I nodded. "Okay, how about green?" I reached for a green herb and began to tear it into smaller pieces. I looked in the pot I had boiling rice in. I turned off that part of the oven and poured out the execs water. I put the herbs in the other pot. Then put I poured that pots extra water, I left a little in so the curry powder could mix. I always put it in at the end, so I could save as much of the flavour as I could. Grabbing two plates, I put some rice on it and then scooped out the curry flavouring over top. I did the same to the other plate. I grabbed two forks and headed over to the table where Cliff was waiting patiently.

"Here you go." I sat down across from him. I put a napkin in my lap. Cliff copied me and did the same.

"Thank you." He said looking down at his food, he picked up his fork and took a bite of the curry. "It's good."

I smiled. "Good, it's what I usually make now, it's a simple recipe and it tastes good." I picked up a carrot with my fork, it was my favourite part with the curry flavour on it.

We ate in silence. But it was a nice silence. When we finished I looked over at Cliff who had a little speck of curry on his face. "You have a little something." I pointed to where it was on my own face. Cliff tried to find it but had no luck. I giggled. "Here let me." I took the napkin from my lap, leaned over the table and wiped the curry from his face. "All gone." I smiled, I could see his face in a sort of trance, he was looking a little lower than my eyes, I could see him eyeing my lips. We both sat there for a moment unsure what to do. Cliff made the first move. His hand slid onto the side my face, he pulled me in close and we kissed. It was soft and sweet, I could taste the curry on his lips. I was unsure what to do. What about Skye? I felt confused. But I didn't stop. I put my hands on his shoulders and leaned in more, trying not to hit the plates on the table. Right now I didn't care, I just felt like I was in bliss, Cliff was so kind and sweet. I felt him pull on me, I allowed him to, until I was off the other side of the table, I was half in his lap. We kissed for a little while, until Cliff looked at me, "We should probably head out now." I agreed, getting up off of him I headed for the door and slipped my shoes on, Cliff did the same we began to walk around the valley. He suggested that we go to the Goddess Pond. I declined, while I was with Cliff, I didn't want to think about Skye. But everywhere reminded me of him. I needed to just suck it up and forget about him for now and enjoy my time with Cliff, if just for a few hours.

"How about the Turtle Pond?" I suggested. "We haven't gone there before."

Cliff agreed we headed down to the little pond. Nami nor Gustafa was there, actually nobody was there for once. I had pushed out the memory of me and Skye's first meeting out of my head. We sat down next to the little pond, I took off my shoes and dipped my feet in the water, it was nice and cool. Cliff did the same.

"So… Jill….. I suppose that now you have returned my feelings?" Cliff asked looking hopeful.

I nodded. "Yes, I like you too Cliff, I always have." I admitted looking him in the eye.

"Could you maybe well like me more than you do now? With time at least." He looked at me in the eye which he barely did.

"Maybe in time. Now I don't know. Do you like me that much?" I asked hugging my knees.

Cliff nodded. "Yes Jill, I've fallen for you. You stole my heart." _Stole. Skye. _"I love you Jill. I'm sure you don't love me but I can wait if you will try to love me."

I nodded, I felt as though I would start to cry. I was in a mixture of happiness and sadness. "Oh Cliff. It's not that I don't love you, it's just I'm so confused right now, I don't know what real love is. So I just need a little more time." I tried to make a smile on my face but, a little tear fell from my face.

I felt Cliff's hand on my face, we wiped the tear from it. "Don't cry, you can have all the time in the world." I looked into my eyes. He leaned in and kissed me. I made a sigh in my mind. I felt his hands on my hair, he pulled out my ponytail. I felt my hair fall down from its normally high pony. We were both so deep into the kiss, we fell back onto the ground. Lying there for a moment, we were quiet, but after a few seconds we both began to laugh. Sitting up we took our feet out of the water. I didn't bother to put my shoes back on. It was still summer so my feet would dry on the walk home.

"I should let you get back to your farm work." Cliff said standing up.

I nodded but was disappointed.

We reached my farm after a few minutes of walking. He pulled me close and kissed me at my doorstep.

"I'll see you next week." Cliff said as he walked away from me.

"Of course. I can make more curry!" I called after him. When he was gone I fell to the ground and began to cry. I had a choice I needed to make. Cliff or Skye. How would I be able to choose?

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T is safe right? I'm never sure of the ratings. But I'm still deciding if I shoudl change it to M


	13. In the Greenhouse

Chapter 12

That night I had terrible dream, I dreamt of Cliff and Skye had found out about each other and they both left me alone. Even Celia had left me, there was no sign of Claire in the dream, nor should I expect it, we hadn't

spoken in a month at least. I awoke that morning sweat dripped down my face, and tears filled my eyes. Wiping the sweat from my forehead I got up and looked out the window, it was now fall. I would have to clear out the dead tomato and corn plants. I went over to the kitchen and made my usual cornflakes. I looked in the sink clean dishes were in it. I remembered yesterday with Cliff and me. I felt my heartbeat increase just thinking about him, I had to decide who I loved or if I even loved either of them. I was so confused. Cliff was kind and shy. Skye was alive and he made me feel that alive too. I didn't feel like doing any farm work today, I was sure one day wouldn't make much of a difference anyway. I got dressed after breakfast quickly and went out to make sure my animals were all fed. I gathered the eggs from the chickens, I put two in the shipping bin and kept one for cooking. When I was done everything I needed to do today, besides the crops which I wasn't going to bother with today, it was only about nine. I decided to go to Celia's and ask if she had any advice.

"……I'm sorry Jill, I don't have any experience with this type of thing, why don't you try asking one of the other girls?" Celia suggested after not being much help.

"No! They'll gossip, I don't want everybody to get all weird around me because I have feelings for a thief." I shot back at her, I hoped it didn't sound to fierce.

"I understand." We both stayed silent for a few minutes. Until we heard the door from downstairs open and then slam loudly, the floor underneath us shook we could feel it from upstairs. I saw Vesta's red hair appear from the stairs.

"Celia! Bad news! We got a note from Phantom Skye!" Vesta held up a piece of paper. "He's coming to steal our veggies!" Her eyes blazed with anger.

I couldn't tell what Celia's expression was saying. "Oh, no Vesta that's terrible! But didn't we just plant them this morning?"

"He still left a note saying he was gonna steal them, maybe he meant the ones we keep in the greenhouses."

I had never seen anybody use the greenhouse before, and they were always locked. "Is there something special in the greenhouses?" I asked trying not to sound to interested.

"It's where we keep out cross-bred crops." Celia replied. Vesta didn't look to happy that she said that but she kept her mouth shut. "Oh, Jill, I don't think we can handle this on our own could you help us catch him?" I could tell Celia was acting.

I nodded a little uneasy. "Sure, I'd love to help you catch that thief."

"Well good Jill, we could use your help in catching that no-good thief." Vesta smiled and began to walk back downstairs. "Just be here by ten tonight."

"I'll be here." I replied.

Vesta nodded and walked back downstairs.

Celia looked at me with dreamy eyes. "Oh I get to meet the infamous Phantom Skye." She snapped back to reality. "Oh sorry Jill."

I shook my head at her. "It's okay, both Lumina and Muffy went gaga over him, Flora didn't though."

"We should do something to make you look prettier for him." Celia jumped up and headed to her closet. But then stopped. "Oh wait… I don't have anything for you to wear, just plain old dresses like this." She held the fabric of her dress.

"It's okay, I wouldn't want it to seem like I was waiting for him anyway."

I didn't bother to leave the Celia's place that day, and after what felt like only an hour ten o' clock came around. We gathered downstairs to make a quick plan. Vesta began to tell us the plan.

"So, when Skye enters the farm, none of us will be around to lure him in. I'll hide near the green houses in case he comes to them, Marlin I want you to block the bridge and Celia and Jill I want you to be in the normal fields."

Marlin didn't look satisfied with that plan. "Why would he bother to take sprouts?" I had always wondered why their crops grew so fast, they must put something special in them.

Vesta nodded. "Okay, well then do you have any ideas?" We were all silent. Vesta turned to me. "Jill, you've dealt with him before, is there anything we should know about him?"

I nodded. "He can do this thing where he can make a girl unable to move." I looked over at Marlin who had moved a lot closer to Celia, I saw her smile. "He doesn't do anything like that." I said as if to read his mind. "He did it on me once, nothing happened." It looked like Marlin relaxed a little. I saw Celia whisper to Marlin, and his face flushed a little. I hid a small laugh.

Vesta paused for a moment. "Hmmmmm. Well then how about if we have Marlin have Skye distracted and then Jill and I will come up behind him and knock him out." I felt me stomach turn, I didn't want to do that to Skye, Celia must of caught up on that.

"Vesta isn't knocking him out a bit to much.."

"No! That thief should pay for his plans to steal our veggies." Vesta looked angry that Celia even said that.

We still didn't have a plan, but before we could think of anything we heard feet from outside heading towards the greenhouses. "Okay, screw the plan, let's just go out there." Vesta roared, she jumped up and headed out the door. We all followed. We saw a figure try to open the greenhouse door, the moon moved into place at the perfect time, I saw Skye's silver hair begin to shine in the moonlight, I could see his green eyes meet mine, he smirked at me. Vesta interrupted our moment with her voice.

"Thief, stay out of our greenhouse!" Vesta hollered, her voice was so loud and full of rage.

Skye turned around his eyes slender and cold, for the first time I had seen them like that. "I don't think you can stop me." I could see his eyes pierce into Vesta's glare, She stood still unable to move.

"What did you do!?" Vesta asked as she tried to free herself, she reminded me of when Skye did the same thing to me, but he didn't say anything this time.

Marlin made a growl in his throat. Celia held him back, she could tell he was going to lunge at Skye.

"Why did you do that to Vesta?" Celia asked a sharp tone was in her voice.

"Well my dear, she was interfering in my plans." He gave Celia the same look he gave Vesta, I could tell she was unable to move.

"I-I can't move." Celia stuttered.

Marlin looked furious. "What the hell did you do to Vesta and Celia?" Marlin shook his fists by his sides they were clenched I could tell he was wanting punch Skye out.

"They'll be fine in a while." Skye smirked at Marlin. "Now I have business to attend to."

Marlin looked at him his eyes were full of fury "You bastard…" Marlin ran at Skye his hand ready to punch him out. All Skye did was sidestep him.

"You'll have to do better than that." Skye challenged.

I thought that Marlin was overreacting about this, they would be able to move again soon. Marlin took his challenge and ran at him again, his fist went right for Skye's face, Skye didn't move but he just put up his hand and blocked the punch. I couldn't see what Skye did but within a few seconds I saw that Marlin was lying on the ground clutching his side. Skye just waved it off and returned to opening the greenhouse, he opened it with ease, a small tool was in his hand, he slipped it into his pocket and walked inside, he left the door open. Running after him I looked in the greenhouse and saw no Skye in there.

"Skye?" I asked looking around. Hearing the door close I turned and saw standing behind me his hand on the door, I heard a click I knew he had just locked the door.

"It's good to see you again Jill." He said in his usual tone. "I knew you would come in here."

I ignored his attempt to charm me. "Why did you do that? Hurt Marlin, what was the point?"

"He got in my way, and I could tell he wanted it." Skye came closer and wrapped his arms around me. "If somebody did that to my Jill, I would do the same thing." He was talking about how he froze Celia.

"But somebody did do that to me. You." I looked at him, remembering the night at the Blue Bar.

"But things worked out for us, didn't it." I could feel his breath on my neck, his lips brushed against it. My skin tingled.

"Not if you go around hitting people." I pushed him away. There was something different about him tonight.

"What's he to you?" Skye asked his eyes were still cold.

"He's my best friends boyfriend!" I shot back, technically they weren't going out, but it was pretty much the same.

Skye looked a little relieved. "Oh… I thought… never mind." Skye quickly brushed it off. "I'm sorry."

"What did you think?" I asked looking at his eyes, there was a change in his eyes.

"I thought there was something between you and Marlin. I saw you leave their house one night and I didn't see Celia, only Marlin. I am sorry about all of this. I just can't think you being with another man, it makes my heart become lifeless."

I felt a twist in my stomach. If he knew about Cliff and me. "It's okay, I promise there is nothing between the two of us." I walked back to Skye and wrapped my arms around him. "I caught you…" I whispered.

Skye just laughed. "I guess you did."

"You said you'd tell me anything I'd want to know if I caught you."

"I will, just not here, let's leave this place we'll go to your house. I'll tell you what you want to know there." He pulled me in closer, I could feel his heartbeat. It was calm and soothing. I nodded.

"Well then I shall make my escape." Skye walked to the door and unlocked it, he began to run out.

I chased after him making it look like I had tried to stop him from stealing. Skye disappeared into the night and across the bridge. I noticed Marlin had gotten up from his hold on the ground. Celia was patting his back while he tried to breath. Vesta was still, but when she saw Skye run out and away she turned to me. "Did he take any of my veggies?"

I shook my head. "Nope, I stopped him."

Vesta smiled. "Well good job kid." Vesta rubbed my head as though I was only a child, my head hurt.

"Thank you Jill, we couldn't of done it without you." Celia looked at me I could tell what she was thinking; _Tell me about it tomorrow. _I was sure she knew that Skye had actually ran off towards my house.

I pretend yawned. "Well I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They all thanked me and I headed home, when I got there I saw Skye standing in my house waiting for me. After about two seconds that I walked in the door, Skye walked forward and pulled me in for a deep kiss. I melted into it.

When I pulled away I asked; "How did you get in?"

"You left the door unlocked. You should learn to lock it you never know who could get in."

I sighed. Knowing that I should be doing that, I never did.

Skye looked into my eyes. "So what would you like to know?"

I knew what I wanted to ask first it was something that I had avoided for a long time, even tried to forget, because of my feelings for Skye that had stopped me. I placed my hand on the base of his neck and trailed my finger along to the dog tag that he always wore around his neck. "Why did you take it in the first place? And how?"

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For those who were wondering about the dog tag and how Jill just stopped trying to get the tags back well all shall be reveiled in the next chapter....


	14. Truth Revealed

Chapter 13

We sat on the couch that I had in front of the TV, I didn't use it that often though. We both sat silently for a moment.

"Do you want me too tell you now?" Skye asked, the mood in here was very serious.

I was unsure if I still wanted to know. What if it was something that I didn't want to know? What if it would ruin the two of us? But it couldn't be that bad, I mean we had no past previous Forget-Me-Not-Valley, right? I mean I don't remember my childhood that well, but I was pretty sure I didn't know Skye, right? But I would have to find out sooner or later. I nodded.

"Well then where would you like to me to start?" Skye asked looking up at the ceiling.

"The beginning." I answered, now I was unsure where and when the beginning was.

"Well actually it started when you were five and I was six." Skye began to say. "You probably don't remember it but we were neighbours for a few months. I remember that you only lived with your mom, I was the same, but my dad had just left us for another woman." I could sense no sadness in his voice. "We became close and we went everywhere together, our mothers thought it was cute how we were like that." He paused and reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo. "That's us."

I looked at the photo, I remembered that! "You didn't have silver hair then." I pointed out, when he was that age he had a more darker browner colour.

Skye nodded. "My hair began to change colour when I was eight." We both looked at the photo for a few moments. It was a picture of us standing in front of a dog house, we were holding hands with our free hands we were giving the camera peace signs. I smiled at the photo, I was sure I had a copy somewhere but it got buried in a box of old photos I had in the closet. Skye continued. "We were only living net to you for a few months, but with my mom alone and it was sudden she couldn't afford to keep the house. We had to move. I can remember your mom trying to give us money, but she wouldn't take it, we moved out a few days later. But after a while we would have to move again, and I never forgot about you. But I knew you forgot about me, especially in middle school." Skye had put the photo away. "I returned to town, but you never noticed, you were always with that blonde girl."

"Claire…We used to be best friends…." I added in, my voice made a tiny crack.

"Yeah Claire, she was always with you, I was never able to even say hi, without her there, and I had became popular with the other girls. They all adored my hair. That was the beginning of my attitude."

I snorted at how when Skye had first-err-- when we met in Forget-Me-Not-Valley, had tried to sweet talk me.

"But it didn't last long, soon I was gone again, before I could even say hello." Shortly after that, we couldn't afford to live anywhere, and that's when I began to steal. It was a last resort, but after we were able to rent a place again, I had become addicted to stealing, it made me feel alive. My mother soon couldn't handle it anymore, I was kicked out of the house when I was sixteen. But with my money made from stealings I was able to get my own place, I still live there, but I soon heard of a place called Forget-Me-Not-Valley, and people talked about a girl who used to live there, I knew it was your mother, and I then heard that she had died. I remembered you and thought you would show up one day. I was right." Skye paused and took the dog tags off his neck. "While I was leaving from the valley after a quick steal from a scientist, I saw you and that Claire girl walking into the valley, the backpack you wore had a pouch open and as you walked I saw it fall out. I waited until I couldn't see you anymore and I then grabbed it. I saw a name engraved on it, it had your surname, Bokujo. I figured it was your father, since you never had one growing up. I was unsure what to do for once in my life. I wanted to see you again so I figured that if I kept it I would be able to."

I was unsure whether to be upset or happy. So all I said was; "Oh…"

Skye looked at the little metal pieces in his hands. "Here, I can see you, so I have no need for them anymore."

I felt as though I would cry. "Oh Skye………….." I wrapped my arms around his waist and began to cry.

Skye seemed a little shocked at first, but then he quickly hugged me back.

I wiped away the tears and sniffled a bit. "Thank you Skye, but I want you too have them…" I put my hands on his fingers and closed them. "I'm just glad that you told me this. Besides, they look better on you anyway." I tried to make a joke, but I probably just sounded foolish.

Skye looked at me, he put them back on around his neck. We just stared at each other for a moment, and I think for the first time I made the first move. (not including the night on the tree when I was asleep of course) I leaned up to his face and kissed him, I put my hands on his shoulders and pulled him down. He seemed to be happy. He pulled out my hair, and it fell down, I guess he liked my hair down. I began to put my hands on Skye's chest, my hands found their way to the top button of his over shirt, I began to unbutton his shirt. I slid off the over shirt and he wore a plain grey undershirt. I slid my hand to bottom of his shirt and began to pull it up. I felt Skye's hand on mine.

"Jill…..Are you sure?" Skye asked, we didn't need to say it we both knew what we were talking about.

I looked at him, I was actually unsure myself. I nodded anyway. He smiled at me and took off his own shirt. We both smiled for a moment and then he leaned back down to kiss me. His hands met the back of my shirt, he began to pull my shirt up, he pulled it up over my head, and it landed on the ground. I was glad that he didn't go for my bra or pants yet. Instead he began to kiss down along my jaw line and down my neck, His lips then found his way to my collarbone. I could feel his hands make their way to my back, his hands fumbled a bit as he realized there was no clasp.

"Uh Skye.." I looked up at him pointing down, I was wearing a front clasp bra. He laughed a little bit and reached for the clasp, but before he could do that, there was a knock on the door. I heard Skye sigh. But honestly I felt relieved. I looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to rise. I saw Skye look upset, he hopped up from off the couch. I grabbed my shirt and pulled it back over my head and went to open the door, I saw that Skye was hiding on the couch. I opened the door to find Celia looking at me her face was all giddy and happy.

"Oh, Jill!" Celia hopped in the door and gave me hug. "Marlin and I finally made love last night!!" Celia stopped hugging me and began to jump up and down.

"Oh, Celia, that's great." I didn't want to say, but I thought that Marlin was a little unpleasant but I kept my mouth shut. I had forgotten that Skye was on my couch.

Celia let herself into my room and went to go sit on the couch to tell me all about it. But her face began to flush, when she saw Skye attempt to put his shirt back on. "Oh, I didn't realize I was interrupting something."

I felt my face turn bright, as Celia gave me a sheepish look as she left.

I was so embarrassed. I noticed that Skye was fully dressed now. "I'm sorry Jill, but I think I should go, meet me at the Goddess Pond tonight." He gave a deep kiss for a brief moment.

I watched as Skye ran out of the farm, I think it was the first time I could remember Skye in Sunlight. Walking back into the house I flopped down onto my bed and sighed to myself. I was a little relieved, I still wasn't ready just yet, I was in the moment. Looking down at the ground I noticed Koro and Ashie sitting on the ground next to me, I hadn't been paying much attention to them lately. I figured that after I slept a little I would just spend the day with Koro and Ashie.

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I know I've asked this a million times but is T still safe, as a 13 year old, I don't pay attention to ratings and stuff so I don't know which is supposed to be innapropriate


	15. I Love You

Chapter 14

That morning after I got some sleep, I awoke to the sound of somebody knocking at my door. I had to carefully move Ashie and Koro of me so I could go get the door. I hadn't changed when Skye left, I just fell asleep.

Opening the door I looked to find Cliff standing there looking around. I had forgotten that today was Saturday!

"Hey, Jill…" There was a sign of relief in his eyes. "You usually come by the Inn at around noon, but it's one now. So I thought I would come over and see if you were okay."

I felt my heart flutter, he was so caring. "Oh sorry, I was up late last night so I kind of overslept." Pausing I remembered what I had said last week. "Would you like to come in? I said I would make more curry this week."

Cliff nodded. I could sense he had a secret motive for coming to see me. "I'd love to have more of your curry."

Walking back into the house with Cliff following me, I quickly made my bed, Koro and Ashie were a bit disappointed when I made them get off. So much for it just being an animal day. "Just let me hop in the shower quickly and I'll get started."

Cliff nodded while he was taking off his shoes. I figured he would be fine, he had already started to play with Ashie and Koro. I hopped in quickly I did a super fast cleaning of my hair and body. I attempted to shave my legs, but given that I was going super fast, I just ended up putting on a few band-aids. When I was done in the bathroom I walked out into the main room to see Cliff lying on the floor with Koro pouncing on him and Ashie was swatting at his hair. I chuckled when I saw the three. Cliff looked up at me and laughed to.

Still laughed a bit I began to walk into the kitchen. "I'll start making curry now, you can continue to roll around with my animals." I started to get out the ingredients I would need for the curry. It didn't take me that long, it was only about twenty minutes and then I was serving Cliff his curry, I had made blue curry today. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Cliff began to eat his curry quickly. He looked as though he hadn't been eating properly. I figured I should ask.

"Cliff, have you been eating properly back in Mineral Town?" He did look a little pale today.

Cliff was silent for a moment and then shook his head. "I've been starting to run out of money so I haven't been able to afford to pay for my room at the Inn and for money." (**Authors Note: I know that in HM:DSC Cliff already has a job, but I have a reason for this.**) Cliff looked a little embarrassed.

"Oh Cliff. Let me help you." I began to jump up to go grab my money. Cliff stopped me.

"No, I don't need your pity." Cliff looked away a little depressed.

"Well can I at least send you home with a doggie bag? I made to much curry and you can have the leftovers." I couldn't just let him suffer and not eat properly.

"Okay, I suppose if you want to help." I could tell he was trying to sound not interested in the curry, but his eyes gave it away.

"Good, I'll give them to you later." I clapped my hands together and sat back down to eat my own curry.

After we ate the curry, I had to attend to my farm work, since I had to plant the new crops, and my animals were probably starving. I didn't want Cliff to leave just yet. I didn't think Cliff did either.

"What if I help you out today?" He suggested.

"Oh, you don't have to do that." I did want him to stay but that was kinda pushing it, I hated having guests working.

"I want to, as payment for the curry."

"Well okay then. If you want too, I have to go buy them from Vesta." I liked to buy them locally instead of from Mineral Town.

Nodding Cliff headed for the door, he got his shoes on and began to leave. I followed him, we walked down to Vesta's farm laughing about almost everything. When we got to the store, Celia was behind the counter, she didn't see Cliff who had began to fall behind me.

"Hey Jill. How was last night?" She looked at me with pure interest. Taking a glance behind me she saw Cliff. She threw her hands over her mouth.

Cliff looked up at Celia. "What happened last night?"

I didn't know what to say. "Oh, right I was up until morning watching TV and Celia walked in on a interesting part in the movie. She's just making a joke." I tried to make a weak laugh and Celia joined in with me.

Cliff didn't look suspicious. All he said was; "Oh." Celia and I made silent sighs of relief.

"So Celia, I need some Fall crops." I said changing the subject. The other reason I came here was because I always got a discount. She handed me a bag of Carrot, Yam, Pumpkin and Eggplant. With her generosity it came to about only five hundred gold. We waved goodbye and headed back to my farm.

It didn't take very long with the two of us, before we knew it, I was saying good-bye to Cliff at the entrance of the farm. I handed him his food, I put in a little extra food since I had some in the fridge.

"Well I guess I'll see you later then." Cliff looked a little disappointed. He began to leave when I called out after him.

"Wait, Cliff.."

"Huh?" He said turning around. While he did that I leaned in and kissed him. We stood for a moment. The mood was perfect, the sun was even setting. I pulled away and said something I never thought I would say.

"I love you Cliff."

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I know, short chapter, and Mwahahahahahahaha! Jill finally said it to somebody, but it was to Cliff, I shall leave you hanging, but I shall update ASAP so just sit tight with the Cliff-Hanger. (Get it, _Cliff-_Hanger, aren`t I funneh)


	16. I Love You Again?

Chapter 15

I had said it back finally. I knew in my heart that I loved him, but I also knew that I loved Skye. But what I feared the most, and that had stopped me from ever saying what I really felt was that I knew this would all end in somebody getting hurt.

"Jill…" Cliff looked more happy than ever right now. "I'm so glad you said that." I thought he might cry, but he held out. "I love you too."

I smiled and hugged him. "I knew that I've always felt like this, but it took me awhile to figure it out myself." I confessed fighting back tears.

"Listen, Jill, I have to go now, but I will come back in two weeks."

I didn't know what he meant. "Wha? Why in two weeks?"

"There's the Harvest Festival next week, in both our towns." Cliff assured me.

Nodding I pulled back from the hug and gave him a quick kiss again. "I'll see you in two weeks."

I watched him as he walked away into the falling sun. The temperature was dropping with the sun, I grabbed the sweater I kept on my waist and put it on. I sat at the entrance of my farm until the sun was completely gone and the moon was high in the sky. _Skye! _I was supposed to meet Skye tonight at the Goddess Pond. I quickly ran into my house to check the time, since I didn't have my watch on today. It was nine thirty. I was relieved since Skye would be here in about a half an hour, so I would have enough time to get to the pond.

Arriving at the pond I saw no Skye, but I wasn't surprised he shouldn't be here for a bit. I went to go sit next to the pond, and trailed my finger along the water, it was cool. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hello, beautiful. You don't want to fall in do you?" Skye asked, his voice right by my ear. But it was a whisper. He began to trail his finger in the water next to mine.

I felt a little confident tonight, considering that I was planning on telling him how I felt so I was going to play at his game. "I don't think you let me, plus I seem to recall I was the only one who could really swim." I fell back a little bit so I was lying in his arms. They were strong and supported my body.

"Heh, my beautiful Jill is a little bit feisty today." He began to put his hand through my hair with one hand with his other, he used to brace me close to him. I felt safe sitting here.

"Your not the only one that can be a flirt." I cooed, brushing my lips against his.

"A flirt am I? I seems to have captured your heart though." He played back and brushed his lips back against mine.

I smirked at him. "Maybe you have."

"What does that mean?" He asked he then nuzzled my neck.

"It means that I've began to understand my own feelings, and I know now that I love you Skye." I knew that by saying this somebody would get hurt but, I couldn't keep it in anymore, I had to let it out.

Skye looked at me with eyes full of pure joy. "You do? Oh beautiful Jill, I love you too, so much." He pulled me close and kissed me. I made myself forget about the confusion I would have to face soon and just enjoy this moment. He pulled back and we just lied down on the ground looking up at the moon.

We stayed like that for what must have been hours because I heard Skye begin to mutter something. "You should probably head back, considering you have work to do, I can't have you getting sick." He tapped his finger on my nose.

I sighed. "Well, okay….." I agreed. We both stood up and parted ways at the bridge. "I'll see you soon Skye." I said softly stepping on my tiptoes to go up to kiss him. I still wasn't used to a guy being taller than me, since I was tall for a girl.

"Goodbye dear Jill." He began to walk away I watched as he disappeared into the darkness.

Walking back home my knee's had started to buckle. When I walked into my house I fell to the ground and began to cry. It was a mixture of happy and sad tears. I had told Cliff and Skye that I loved them, but I had to decide soon before it all was destroyed before I could fix what I had created.

I spent the next week keeping to myself, only doing farm work and trying to figure everything out. The Harvest Festival was coming up and Celia begged me to come, considering I had been avoiding everybody. I agreed reluctantly and she dragged me there, I had brought a yam, since I didn't have any Fall crops ready yet. We arrived, and I could see everybody holding vegetables and sauces for the Harvest Festival annual stew. Looking over at the huge pot I gasped, it was easily taller than me. How were you supposed to get all of that out? And where did it come from?

Thomas the little Mayor Midget from Mineral town was here, but wasn't his town having the same festival? "Hello Jill, Celia. Do you have something for the pot?" He asked in his usually nasally tone.

We nodded and handed him the vegetables, he walked up the ladder and plunked them in. "Hey Thomas, isn't Mineral Town having their Harvest Festival too?"

He nodded and looked at but sad. "Yes, but since I am the official caretaker of Forget-Me-Not-Valley I had to come here, Doug is running ours." I felt a bit sorry for him. "But anyway, I think the stew is ready, so let's dig in!" The little man called his voice reached all over the beach.

It wasn't long until everybody had their serving of stew. I was amazed at how well Thomas was at serving from the large pot. We all sat still for a moment until somebody called out; "Itadakimasu!" Everybody returned the call with Itadakimasu. We all began to eat at the stew, it was good, I had heard from Celia that sometimes somebody will sneak in a poison mushroom. Luckily that didn't happen this year.

The girls were once again gathered we all ate the stew while chatting.

"So, have you guys noticed that the infamous Phantom Skye hasn't been doing very well at robbing us lately? He hasn't been doing a good job since he robbed Daryl." Flora piped in, I was a bit surprised that she was the first to spark a conversation.

"Phantom Skye…" Lumina and Muffy sighed at the same time. Celia and I exchanged glances.

"I think he has a girl in his life now." Lumina looked all dreamy eyed.

"What would I give to be her." Muffy added. Everybody else just sighed in frustration. I felt a bit special in a way. I had somebody that both Muffy and Lumina wanted. Muffy snapped back to reality first. "So Jill, how have things been going with Cliff?"

I felt my face flush. "Eh!?" I paused, I suppose I could tell them about it all, but without Skye. But what if things didn't work out for Cliff and me? "Oh, fine, we've been having curry at my house on Saturdays."

"To bad the festival was on a Saturday, you could of gotten to see him today." Lumina and Muffy were so interested in love and stuff like that. I looked over at Nami and Flora who were now quiet. I wanted to change the subject off of me and onto something else. But I had nothing to change the subject to, I just nodded and returned to eating my stew. Everybody followed, we ate in silence.

When everybody was done, Thomas made a little speech about the Harvest and what it means to the people who worship the Goddess. I remembered that I hadn't freed any Sprites in awhile. I only had about twenty or something, I wasn't doing very good. Everybody began to evacuate the beach eager to get home, they were all happy and full. I on the other hand felt lost and confused. Waving goodbye to the other girls I headed home to find Ashie and Koro curled up on my bed, I didn't want to disturb them, so I just grabbed a blanket from out of the closet and slept on the couch.

For the next few days, I kept to myself again trying to think, unsure what I should do, until on Wednesday I saw Celia running up to me, she was out of breath.

"Jill…" She paused and tried to breath for air. "I know…. What ……you can do about Cliff and Skye."

I felt my heartbeat increase. "What!?"

"I don't know if it'll help, but you could always go to Carters." Celia had caught her breath now.

I looked at her confused. "The archaeologist?"

Celia laughed a bit. "No, Carter in Mineral Town, he's the priest, and he holds confessional today, if you hurry you can get there and still be back before dark."

I didn't know what to say. "But what about my work?"

Celia was one step ahead of me. "That's why I was running over here, I'll do it for you today, but you have to give me some cow milk in return."

Nodding I smiled. "Thanks Celia, I'll see you later today okay." I hugged her and waved good-bye as I headed off for Mineral Town. Now I would just have to try to avoid people. Like Claire, or Cliff.

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The next chapter is one I've been waiting to do since I started it's an idea I've really been wanting to write down, so ya'll gonna have to wait until next chapter for me to unveil what happens next, and Jill will most likely be making her desicion in the next chapter...or not, I don't really know yet so just sit sight and continue to read. Reviews are always loved. I enjoy hearing what you all think.


	17. More Hurt

Chapter 16

It didn't take too long to get to Mineral Town. It was about two when I arrived but, since I was unsure where I was to go. I got lost for a little bit. I finally gave up and walked to the nearest building. A little girl answered the door.

"Hello?" She asked looking up at me, the top of her head was only a few inches below my waist. How cute.

"Would you happen to know where the church is?" I asked looking at the little girl. She smiled at me with a huge toothy grin, she was missing one of her teeth. She reminded me a bit of Kate, but she looked much kinder.

She nodded excitedly. "Yep, Stu and I go there every Saturday. Oh, I'm May." She lifted her hand up for me to shake.

I looked at May and bent down on my knee's and shook her hand. "I'm Jill. It's good to finally meet you May. I always buy clothes from your store."

May looked at me with big sparkly eyes. "Really? But you haven't bought anything recently." She looked a bit disappointed.

"Well, I've been busy and haven't had the time to buy anything else."

May nodded and began to walk away pulling me with her. "C'mon, I'll take you to the church."

I complied and allowed her to drag me. She was running and it was funny because I was walking pretty normally. We arrived to a little church it was calming to look at, except for a few graves that were in the front, I found it a bit odd that there were graves in the front of a church.

"Why are you going to the church in Mineral Town? Don't you live in Forget-Me-Not Valley Onee-san?"

"I do but, I have to use the confessional and we don't have a church."

"Did you do something bad?"

"Well, sorta. I had to do it even if I knew it would cause trouble and your priest might be able to help me fix it."

"He will, Carter's the best!" She looked at me with big beady eyes. I smiled at the little girl, so care-free and happy. I wondered if things would ever get this confusing for her.

"Well, I better go find out. Thank you for showing me where the church was May."

"Don't worry about it. I gotta go back and see Grandpa, he'll be wondering where I am." She waved goodbye and ran off.

I sighed and entered the church. To be honest it was my first time stepping inside a church. My mother had never been religious so I had to need to be in one. It wasn't that bad. Calming and for some reason it smelled like flowers. I was unsure where the confessional was but I guess it was one of the doors at the back of the church. I figured it would be the one on the left, it looked like there were two right together and that's what I had seen in the movies. I walked over and knocked on the door.

"Yes, my child?" I soothing voice called.

"Are you still open for confessional?" I asked a bit nervously.

"Yes, come in."

I nervously opened the little door and sat in the small booth. "Well, uh father. I'm not a religious person, so I don't know how to do this really."

"There's nothing to it. Just tell me what you have to confess about."

"I've fallen in love. But with two people." I admitted. My face was red I could feel it. "I don't know what to do, my friend suggested that I come here and talk to you about it."

He didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, forgive me for my intrusion, but have you given yourself to either of them?"

I shook my head but then realized he couldn't here me. "No."

"Then my child, I can tell you no advice about love. All I can say is too look into yourself and you will find your answer."

I nodded. "Okay father…….."

"Is that all?"

"No, I have another thing. I haven't spoken to an old friend in a few months. We were very close but we just stopped talking over something so small and stupid." I was unsure how it all stopped like that, over something so stupid.

"Go and see this person, tell them it was stupid that you stopped being friends, and try to make up."

"Okay father. Thank you. I feel much better now." I began to leave the small dark booth.

"Have faith my child, all will become clear soon." His voice began to fade.

I blinked in confusion. What did he mean? I paused for a moment to think. I heard the door next to the one I emerged from open with a click. A man not much older than I was, maybe by two or three years walked out. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Is there something wrong my child?"

"N-no. Thank you." I made a little bow and headed for the door, I heard him chuckle as I left. Running out the door I saw that it had started to rain. Sighing I put on my sweater and began to run through the rain trying to find someplace I could stay until the rain stopped.

Coming to an Inn I walked inside and heard music playing in the background. There were a few little tables set up and a few people were scattered around them. I walked up to the counter and a man with red hair and a moustache greeted me.

"Welcome to Doug's Bar and Inn. What can I get you?" He made a loud laugh.

"N-nothing I don't have any money." I muttered. "How much longer do you think the rain will continue?"

"Oh, maybe an hour or so."

I sighed and glanced up at the clock. It was five already. How had I spent that much time today already? It didn't feel like that.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Hey Jill." It was Karen, she sometimes came to see Celia. "What're you doin` in Mineral Town?" She looked as though she had been drinking a bit.

"Oh, just visiting some people." I replied not much interested.

"Oh, to come see Cliff? I could go get him. He should be around here somewhere." She began to walk away and was about to scream out his name.

I stopped her. "No! I don't want him to know I'm here." Karen seemed to understand, she walked away.

Doug was right the rain disappeared in around an hour. Turning to Doug I asked; "Do you know where the local Ranch is? The one that Claire runs?"

He nodded and gave me directions. I had been there before once on my way to the Valley, but I couldn't remember anymore. I walked into the setting sun which had made the clouds part. It smelled good out here. I loved the smell after a rain shower. I walked until I found myself smelling a similar scent. It smelled of farms. The smell of hay crops, and sadly animal dung. I had grown used to this smell, it no longer bothered me or made me think it was anything odd. I felt my stomach churn, I was unsure what I would say to her. If she would forgive me. She would right? I walked up to the door and was about to knock when I stopped myself. I was too nervous. I turned around and thought about what I should say. For some reason when I heard some footsteps coming towards the door I ran to hide. The door clicked open, I saw Claire looking all pouty.

"C'mon stay. Please?" She hadn't changed much.

I could here somebody from inside the house. "I told you Claire. I've got to get back to the Inn." His voice sounded familiar.

"Please? I can do things for you?" I tried not to make any noise. She really hadn't changed not even since high school.

There was no answer from the other person. Claire seemed to take that as a yes. How was I supposed to talk to her now. I watched as she reached into the house and pulled the other person out, she pulled him in for a kiss. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail. I saw him pull away. It was Cliff!

I felt hurt, like somebody had stabbed me in the stomach -- or back. I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what to do. Cliff didn't stop her. He actually seemed to welcome it. I decided to make my presence noticed. I walked out of my hiding spot behind a tree. I didn't say anything but they noticed me.

They both looked horrified. "J-Jill!?" They both gasped simultaneously.

I fought back the tears, I began to ran away through her farm, which I knew that there was an exit out of here.

They both ran after me yelling my name. I drowned them out, just running away. I began to run through the forest and down the path had come from. I could still hear their voices. I felt Cliff's hands on my wrist, he looked at me with such apologetic eyes. I didn't want to see them. I wriggled my hand free and turned to run. He didn't follow. I could hear Claire try to comfort him. I ran until I was completely out of breath and I couldn't here or see them. I began to walk away.

When I arrived back in the Valley, the sun had disappeared and everything was quiet. I ran to the Goddess in hope of finding Skye there. He was.

"Skye…" I muttered under my tears.

He turned and looked at me a smile on his face. "Jill my love. I'm glad to see you tonight." He didn't noticed I was crying.

I ran at him throwing myself into his arms, he stumbled a bit but then put his arms around me. "What happened? Are you okay Jill?"

I didn't answer his question all I said was; "Take me away Skye. I don't want to be here anymore."

He seemed to understand that I didn't want to talk about it. "Okay."

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I've been waiting for this moment FOREVER I had the idea to use this chapter when I started and now I finally got to show it too you guys. Hope you like! ^_^


	18. Worry

Chapter 17

We walked hand in hand for what felt like hours and hours. We came across a path that I didn't even know existed. I had to take a boat to get here. We had to walk through a forest. Skye pulled me closer as we walked. I was happy, it was cold. We soon came to the end of the forest and too a little street. The houses weren't even flashy. They looked even small and cottage-like. We walked to the one at the end of the little street. Skye pulled out a key out of his pocket and opened the door.

Within one step in the house I could smell curry faintly. It smelled so good. I remembered curry and the scene with Cliff and Claire flooded into my mind. I managed to stop myself from falling to the ground and crying. He led me into a dimly lit room. There were burgundy silk curtains on the windows. He turned on the light, the whole room looked like something out of a movie. Everything was perfect. My house was nothing compared to his living room.

"Sit wherever you like, I'll go make something for you." Skye said and he walked away.

I sat down on one of the neighbouring couches. It was so soft, I almost sunk into it. I was unsure what I would say to Skye. Or if I should even say anything. I figured I should wait and talk it over with Celia.

Skye returned with a little glass tray, a teapot and glass cup was in the center. A small pile of little cookies sat next to them. I smiled at his thoughtfulness. He placed them on the coffee table in front of me. "Here." He began to pour the tea into the me. I could tell by the smell it was mint tea. My favourite. He passed the cup to me, his hand shaking a bit.

"Thank you." I took the cup from him. Taking a small sip a sighed at the taste. I hadn't had mint tea in a long time.

We both sat quietly for a few minutes when Skye broke the silence. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

I was unsure. But since I had already lost one person I loved I couldn't loose another in one day. So, I shook my head.

Skye nodded. "You can tell me when you want."

We both stopped talking after that, I finished the tea and ate a cookie from the tray, it was a classic chocolate chip cookie. Skye ate the other cookie. I soon fell back into the couch and attempted to fall asleep. I felt Skye place a blanket over me and kiss my forehead. I fell asleep shortly after that.

When I awoke there was no sign of Skye in the house. I looked in the entire house and found nothing. When I stepped into the kitchen, there was a note attached to a plate of curry and rice. I giggled a little bit. I picked up the note and began to read; 'Dear Jill, I am sorry I couldn't stay but I had some business I needed to attend to today. Please eat the curry if you desire. I do not expect you to stay here all day, considering you have a farm to take care of. ~Love Skye.' I looked at the clock in the kitchen, it was around eleven, so I ate the curry. It had such a rich taste. It was amazing compared to my curry.

I ate the curry quickly and then headed for the door. I was glad I didn't have to tell Skye about Cliff. I didn't want to until I knew it would be a smart move, but keeping it in much longer would only make it worse. I sighed. Why did everything have to be so confusing? I was a bit unsure of where I was supposed to go, but luckily Skye had been one step ahead of me he left a little map of how I get back home.

I got a little bit lost on the way there but I made it home eventually. When I arrived to my farm I saw Celia sitting in front of my door.

"Jill!" She ran up to me and gave me a hug. "What happened to you? You never came back yesterday!"

I sighed. "It's a long story." I stated walking past her to open my door.

"I have time." Celia glanced over to my crops. "I did your farming today again, I couldn't leave the animals alone… or the crops."

"Oh, okay thanks." I nodded at her, she followed me into the house.

I told her of my story about everything, she stayed silent and looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

"Oh, Jill…. I'm so sorry for you." She paused. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

I shook my head. "No, I just want to be alone."

Celia understood, she got up and rubbed my head, then left without saying anything.

I began to not want to even see anybody after that day. I kept to myself, except for Celia who came over daily to see how I was doing. I did attend the sheep festival the following week. My sheep came in second place. A few days later during one of Celia's daily visits, she told me to turn on the T.V. I agreed and turned on the television. We sat on the couch. Celia watched in eagerness.

"……The annual Pumpkin Festival Masquerade Ball, will be held in Mineral Town this year. People from Rosebud Village, Sunshine Islands, Waffle Town, Mineral Town and of course Forget-Me-Not Valley. This event was cancelled last year so there will be a surprise at the ball." Celia looked like a giddy little school girl. I stared blankly at the screen. "In other news, the infamous thief Phantom Skye seemed to have been keeping off out radars, with his first robbery in weeks, robbing a local jewellery store in Waffle Town. Any information you can give us on this criminal would be appreciated contact us at 1-800-26--" I had turned off the T.V. at that point, I didn't want to here anymore than that.

"Oh, Jill you'll come won't you?" Celia begged.

I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to disappoint her, but going might mean I run into Cliff or Claire. I didn't want that. "………uh……. Okay." I agreed, a bit reluctant to go.

Celia clapped her hands. "Oh, good Jill. It wouldn't be any fun if you didn't go."

I sighed and with that Celia left my house. I knew I was going to have to get over that and just go and try to have fun. I looked at my calendar, the ball was in five days. I would need a dress and a mask. Maybe I could ask little May for one? She would most likely say yes. Forgetting about my farm I sat on my couch for a moment or two until I remembered I had work to do. I set out to go finish up my work.

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ACK!! Short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else for this chapter and I wanted to get this out now. So yeah, and the whole ball thing, I just kinda thought it would be kinda cool to put in, plus I have idea's for there. Nyuuk nyukk~


	19. It's not that flashy

Chapter 18

Everyone in the valley seemed to know of the ball within a day. I didn't even know that most of them had televisions. The girls ran around like chickens finding dresses they could either borrow, buy or make. Most of them went to Lumina for dresses since she had a large wardrobe just for them. Even Nami seemed to get excited about it all. I figured she would be the very last one to ever get giddy about dresses and dancing. I wasn't that happy about it though, Claire would be there and so would Cliff. But since everybody would be wearing masks it would be easier. All the girls had arranged to meet at Lumina's for dress time. I was dragged there by Celia who had said it would be easier to just go to the ball and have fun. Celia and I were the last to arrive. Muffy greeted us as we were ushered in by Sebastian. She grinned at us excitedly.

"Finally you're here!!" She pulled us over to the living quarters of Lumina's room. "Lumina has a big surprise for all of us."

We sat down quickly and Lumina looked around at everyone. "Well since were all here now, I can tell you." She paused for a moment and looked at the other girls who were eyeing her wardrobe. "And no your not using my old dresses." They all snapped back to Lumina and looked embarrassed and disappointed. "Instead I arranged for our private boat to take us to the city and go shopping!!" Lumina giggled. "And I know that some of you don't have much money so it's on me. Just no more than one hundred thousand gold."

All the girls looked like they were about to cry. In a flash all the girls had gone to hug Lumina, knocking all of them to the ground. I looked across from me where Nami still sat we both shrugged, made a small laugh and joined in on the group hug. After the large clump we left the villa for the beach. I had guessed that they didn't know of the path through the forest, nor would they want to go through it. When we arrived at the beach a large yacht was there. We all gasped.

"Lumina you said boat not yacht!" Muffy said while starring up at the large boat.

"It is a boat, this is only a small one. I didn't want to be flashy."

I rolled my eyes. "Not flashy my ass." I muttered kicking a small pebble into the water.

"What was that Jill?" Celia asked.

"Oh, nothing." I muttered. I wasn't that excited for going into the city, I had grown up in the 'city' it wasn't that amazing. I preferred the small community than the large one, I just wondered how Katie and Hugh got schooled? I had lived here for awhile and I hadn't even bothered to ask that.

"Jill!" A voice called to me. I snapped back to reality. There wasn't anybody standing next to me anymore, they had already boarded the yacht. "You coming?" It was Nami.

I nodded. "Yeah sorry, just thinking about some stuff."

After I boarded the yacht we departed quickly. We all sat in a large room, it looked as though it was built for royalty. The other girls looked in awe, Lumina sat there looking bored. She snapped her fingers out of the blue.

"I got it!" She jumped up and began to leave the room. She signalled for us follow.

We walked down the hall and she opened a large closet door, we looked inside there sat three carriage like things in there. Lumina grinned at us mischievously.

"I've always wanted to do this." She pulled on out and made a run down the hall. But since there was no weight at all in the cart she fell to the ground. "Ouch……"

I laughed. The other girls looked at her in confusion. "You have to have somebody in the cart or else you fall."

They all looked at me as though I was the most brilliant person in the world. "How did you know that?" Lumina asked.

"I always did it in the supermarket. I guess you guys haven't been to one before?" They shook their heads. They really were small town.

Lumina butted in. "Anyways we should take them to the dining hall. It's empty right now so we can have races." She looked at us with enthusiasm. They all agreed excitedly. I just nodded, given that I had done it at least a hundred times.

We had teamed up. Muffy and Lumina. Flora and Nami. And then me and Celia. Muffy, Nami and Celia were in the carts. Lumina, Flora and I were pushing. There was a little ledge on the cart where I could put my feet on. We all stood in a ready position ready too run as fast as possible. Celia and I had an advantage, I wasn't wearing any skirts or heels, and I was a cart racer veteran, well in my own words really. Lumina had one of the crew stand at the end of the large room. A red ribbon at the end for the finish line.

"On your mark…….." He began we all grasped the carts firmly. "Get set………" I leaned down ready to leapt into action. "GO!!!" Dashing as fast as I could I could hear the other girls behind me attempting to catch up.

A pair of wheels clinked against mine. I saw Flora looking at me. Celia and Nami attempted to pushed each other. I jumped down from the little ledge and began to run swerving away from Flora. She followed me, I attempted to ram into her cart, she pulled back. I knew she had a plan for pulling back but I took the opportunity to make a run for it.

"Go Jill! Go!" Celia yelled she looked ahead at the ribbon which was only a few feet ahead. Celia looked behind me and gasped. "Jill look out! Turn."

I didn't even bother to look behind me, I just turned to the left I glanced beside me to see Nami leaning out of the cart she must have been attempting to pull me back. They were vicious. "Nice try." I called behind me. I began to run as fast as possible until the last moment when I jumped on the cart and sailed through the finish line.

Celia jumped out of the cart cheering. "Woooo!!! We beat your sorry asses!!" I was a little shocked at her language. Flora and Nami came in second and Muffy and Lumina trailed in at third.

They gave us sharp glares then we all burst out laughing. The man who was standing there said something into his earpiece and then looked at us.

"Ladies, we will be arriving soon. Please head up to the deck." He said sharply. He was like an FBI agent. Or a bodyguard.

We all obeyed and walked up to the deck still giddy over the little game. When we were on deck I saw the city. It was the same one I grew up in, of course though I lived on the edge of the city. There were skyscrapers scattered around, and the streets were extremely busy. I remembered all the times I would come downtown with Claire in high school and middle school. The other girls looked around and gasped at it's size, well except for Lumina.

We quickly docked after that glimpse. A large amount of people starred as we left the yacht. I heard a few people whisper about some of the girls clothing and why we were on a yacht. It didn't last long after we took a few steps they all stopped starring and continued on their ways.

"So where to first?" Muffy asked Lumina.

"I was thinking that one over there." She pointed to a large boutique with dresses in the window. I had seen the store before but it was too expensive for me. We all agreed and entered the store.

A girl greeted us. "Welcome to Claire's Boutique. Is there anything I can help you with?" She gave us a large grin. Her face seemed familiar.

Lumina shook her head. "We'll be fine on our own."

"Okay well if you need anything just let me know."

As we walked by her she stopped me. "Jill? Is that you Jill?" I now had a better view of her face, she had pale blonde hair with light brown streaks going through it, her eyes were sky blue. Skin, flawless.

"I'm sorry?" I looked at her in confusion.

"It's me Kat. From high school." Now I remembered her face.

"Oh right! It's good to see you again Kat." We had PE together and we were always partners, she was the only one who could beat me in a game of basketball. But it would always be an intense game.

"You too. So how've you been?"

"I moved to a small town called Forget-Me-Not Valley. I run an old farm there."

She giggled. "That's so you……..listen I heard about your mom. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, I'm pretty much over it now, it's been almost two years now." I was still upset, but who wouldn't be. But I wasn't going to break down in tears.

"That's good. Do you still keep in touch with Claire? You two were really close."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Looking away I said; "No, not really."

Kat seemed to catch on. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to open any wounds."

"It's okay…..Listen I gotta go. We have to get dresses for a ball in our area." I began to walk away.

"Yeah okay. It was good to see you again."

I nodded. Celia looked at me when I returned to the rest of the girls. "Who was that?"

"Just a friend from high school." I didn't want to bring her down with me so I just shook it all off. "C'mon let's start shopping."

"Yeah. Alright." We began to start looking through the racks of dresses. There were a few I liked but a lot of them were to frilly and girly for my liking. This was going to take awhile. I could tell.

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I'm sooooooooo sorry for not updating. I've just been really busy with school and I just graduated from Elementry School (would of been last year but they made the gr. 7s stay there) and I went camping for the beginning of summer. So I was finally able to update. And I just had to put the race in there because I just recently did that in SuperStore. It was fuuuun ^_^ Anyway sorry for not updating and rambling on now. So hopefully I'll be able to update again soon. *crosses fingers*


	20. Dress's

Chapter 19

It had been about a half hour when everyone had picked out their first dress to try on. Luckily there were just enough changing rooms for all of us.

"Is everybody ready?" Muffy asked from her room.

Celia and Lumina said yes. Flora, Nami and I said no.

Well then hurry up.

"Yeah hang on!" I snapped back. I was terrible at putting on dresses. While I pulling it over my head I tripped my shirt which was lying on the ground. I slid into the wall making the stall next to me shake.

"What the hell happened Jill?" Nami asked from her stall.

"I just tripped." I replied rubbing my back. They all laughed at me. I quickly figured out how to put the dress on. "Okay ready."

"Ditto."

"Same here."

"Okay well then on the count of three." Muffy said. ..three.

We all opened our doors and stepped outside. Muffy was wearing a similar dress to the one she always wore. It was red with black lace for trim. It fell to her ankles with a slit in the leg going up to her knee. It was strapless.

"Muffy thats so hot!!!" Lumina sighed.

"Your's not bad either." Muffy stated looking at Luminas dress. It was a olive green tight on the chest and waist then flared out down her legs. It had a flower pattern embroidered along the top and bottom. They looked like real diamonds. It had spaghetti straps. Lumina smiled at her. "Thanks."

Celia butted in between the two. "What about me?" Her dress was a forest green sequins were all along the seams. The sleeves poofed out a bit. It fell just below her knees. Very modest and sweet.

Lumina and Muffy looked at her. They said nothing. "Its too modest show off your assets more." Muffy said. Lumina nodded.

Celia looked a bit disappointed. Flora looked at them in curiosity. Her dress had a V shape collar showing just a little bit of cleavage. A clear lace fell at the hem extending the dress ever so slightly. It was a dark navy blue almost black.

"Flora.. I didnt know you knew how to pick out dresses?" Muffy looked at the dress eyeing the fabric.

"Neither did I." Flora admitted.

The girls all looked at Nami who was standing there in a daze. She didnt seem to care. Her dress was a very simple dress. Pale blue. It flared out at the waist. A small white ribbon tied just below her chest. Thick straps.

"Nami..Its so pretty." Celia felt the fabric. "It feels like silk."

"Thanks." Nami managed to say.

They all looked at me. I had managed to stay out of it for awhile but now the spotlight was on me. I hadnt given it any serious thought. I just grabbed one that I sorta thought was pretty.

Jill.. They all said in awe. "Its soooooooooo cuuuute!!!!" I was amazed they had managed to say that all at once. It was a black cocktail dress with a pinkish purple bow tied at the waist. The bow fell half way down my thighs. A small line of fabric, the same colour as the bow, was at the top of the dress. The way the dress was designed the fabric was layered out so the ends fell at different lengths. But it was mostly just around my knees. There was a small amount of a messhy fabric underneath that made it flare out a little bit.

"You are so buying that one. It looks like it was made for you." Celia stated.

I blushed a little bit. "Thanks, and its not that much either. I found it in the clearance rack. Only five thousand gold."

"Are you serious? Thats so cheap." Lumina piped in. "I told you that you can spend up to one-hundred thousand gold."

"Its okay, I like the fact thats cheap, I dont like big expensive dresses." I started back for the change room. "Im gonna get changed out of this, the fabric underneath is bugging me."

"Okay well were gonna get Celia a new dress." Lumina said while pushing Celia back into the change room for her to get out of the dress.

By the time I had finished getting changed from the dress. Lumina and Muffy were throwing Skimpy and revealing dresses at Celia. I watched them attempt to give her dress for about a half hour when I began to get extremely bored. And when I started to get bored my mind started to wander, and when my mind wanders I remember things I wish I didnt.

"Hey guys do you mind if I go wander around for awhile?"

They looked at me, then at each other. "Sure why not, just meet us back here in about an hour or so." Lumina said while shoving Celia into a change room with several dresses.

Celia called out at me. "No Jill! You have to save me!!"

"Sorry I need to have some time to myself right now." I waved goodbye to them and headed downtown for a little me time.

There wasnt much here that amazed me, while I was wandering around I stopped in at a little café and ordered a Italian Soda. I sat at one of the little tables outside sipping the soda and watching the people as they walked by. It was calming. Which was odd since they all were in a rush, But none the less the fact that they knew what to do was calming. I began to take a large sip of the soda almost chugging it through the straw.

"Do you drink everything heavily?" A voice behind me laughed.

Who was talking to me like that? "Who do you think you are talking to me about how I drink soda!?" I stood up and turned around to see a familiar face looking down at me. Tall with dark skin, brown eyes, a purple bandana on his head and the usual smile on his face. Kai! I hadnt seen him in a month.

"How you doing kid?" He was holding a box over his shoulder.

"Ive been better/" I looked away, grabbing the soda and quickly finishing it.

"Thats too bad Jill." He rubbed my head like I was a little kid. "Hope things get better for are you doing in the city anyway?"

"Lumina, Muffy, Flora, Nami, Celia and I came into town with Luminas yacht to go shopping for dresses."

"Dresses?" Kai looked at me in confusion.

"There's some ball going on in Mineral Town and a bunch of towns are invited. Celia is dragging me with her."

"You don't want to go?" Kai started to walk onward. I followed on instinct.

"Well no. A lot of crap has happened lately. And this isnt the best time."

"What happened?"

"Its a long story."

"Well listen I get off work in twenty minutes. How about you tell me then?"

"Okay. Where do you work?"

"Over there." Kai pointed to a large looking restaurant about a block away. "I'm the delivery guy." He spoke with such enthusiasm

"Oh, I see." I laughed. "And pick up?"

"Yeah that too. But delivery guy sounds better."

"I suppose that's true."

Twenty minutes quickly passed and we walked to the park where I told Kai of everything that had been going on in my life. He nodded along and comforted me to say things would be alright, it always does. Perhaps he was right, but even if he is right I still needed to do something about it. Being happy doesnt just happen, you have to make it happen. After I finished with my story we ended up talking about other stuff and playing in the park. It was fun I hadnt had fun in a long time. By the time we had finally settled down and rested for a moment the sun had began to go down.

"Hey Kai.. What time is it?"

"About six thirty."

"I have to get back to the boat!! I was supposed to me everyone three hours ago. Which way to the docks?"

"That way." He pointed to the right.

"Thanks for everything Kai. Ill see you next summer I guess." I ran off in the direction he pointed to.

When I arrived at the dock the girls looked at me relieved. "Jill!! Where were you!? We were worried sick!!" Celia looked like she was about to cry.

"Sorry, I ran into Kai and I completely forgot about the time."

"Well we bought your dress for you since you left it in the store. But since you never showed. We had to go and buy the masks without you." Muffy added.

"Yeah you dont have a mask for the ball! Its a masquerade ball!!" Lumina had this frantic look on her face. "We didnt know what you would like."

"Thats okay guys. Ill be able to get one of my own."

"Where?" Celia asked.

"Oh just a friend. I think theyll be happy to help." I said smiling to myself.

The only problem is that they live in Mineral Town.

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What is this!? Did I actually update!? Did you all think I had died or something? Sorry for not updating for like 2 months but it was my summer and I didn't feel like writing, but I start school in 3 days. So who knows you might get another update sometime soon. Wouldn't that be nice. So sorry again, but hope you enjoy. ^_^


	21. Getting Ready

Chapter 20

The ball was tomorrow and I was almost ready, the only thing I needed done was the mask. In front of me was the little animal farm in Mineral Town. I had called earlier to let May know that I was coming by and I had needed her help with something. Knocking on the door I glanced around, the farm was much more put together than mine.

"Hellooo?" I could hear the small voice coming from inside the house. May opened the door and almost jumped into me. "Jill! I was wondering when you were going to get here!"

"Sorry, it took me a little longer than I would have liked." I had been taking my time, I constantly kept looking around to see if Claire or Cliff was anywhere. I did not want to deal with them. "But I need your help."

The young girl crossed her arms. "I know that. What do you need help with?"

"I need a mask. And I'm artistically challenged." I pulled out a piece of paper from my rucksack. "If you could get it to look like this, it would really help me out."

May's eyes started to sparkle. "Omigod! Yes! I'll help you!" The little girl jumped on me giving me a huge hug. "I've always wanted to do something like this." She pulled back. "Do you have the materials?"

I nodded. I pulled out a large amount of items. Thread, material, beads, sequins and other things. "I was unsure what you would need, so I just brought a bunch of stuff."

May nodded at the materials. "This'll do." The first thing she did was pull out a measuring tape from her pocket and pulled it out next to my face. Then she pulled out a pencil and made marks on a piece of fabric.

Over the next hour we sat on the floor in May's room, talking and laughing. The young girl was extremely mature for her age. I was never that mature, I was still running around like a little dog chasing it's tail.

"Hey May, how old are you?" I asked while gluing on little beads on the edge of the mask.

"I'll be turning nine in two months." She held out her index finger and middle finger, then gave me a big grin. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen. But I'll be nineteen in a month."

May nodded. "So, is there anybody your going to the big ball with? I would go but grandpa says it's just for the grownups. But your not a grownup yet. Your only eighteen."

I laughed. "I'm legally an adult."

"But are you going with anybody?"

I felt my face turn red. "I well.. Uh…. Not really…. No. I don't think so anyways." I turned down and looked at the ground. The first thing that came to my mind was Cliff and Claire, then Skye. Maybe he would be at the ball, but since he didn't live in any of the villages mentioned he probably wouldn't be attending. I hadn't talked to him in days.

"Well that's too bad. You can always hook up with someone at the ball!" May joked.

I jumped back in shock. "Aren't you only eight years old?"

"Yeah, but grandpa is too busy to care, so I read a lot at the library."

"I see."

We sat in silence while we tried finish the mask. The moment came when May jumped up in joy. "Finished!" She held the mask outwards, as if somebody was standing in front of her.

I jumped up with her and clapped. "Thanks May!" I hugged the little girl with enthusiasm. She quickly hugged back, making sure she didn't ruin the fragile mask.

"Your welcome!" She practically almost squealed. She presented me the mask by bowing and holding it out with her head held low.

I returned the bow and took it. "Thank you." May looked up and we both started to laugh. Looking outside her window I sighed. "I should go. I don't want to be walking alone at night."

May nodded, though she looked a little upset. "Okay….. When will you come back again?"

"I'm not sure, but I will come back soon."

"Promise?" She held out her pinkie finger.

"Promise." We linked pinkies and shook on it. "I'll see you later then."

May nodded. "Yep. See you next time."

She followed me downstairs and waved until I couldn't see her anymore. I looked at the mask in my hand, it was a dark purple, almost black. Small gold beads ran across the trim, and a small pink and purple feather sat daintily just above the right eye. A thin black piece was tied around the back. I stretched it, it was very stretchy. I had seen what the other girls had gotten, mine was almost identical to everyone else's. Well almost, mine was better. They had bought theirs from a store, mine had more value. I had made it with a special little friend.

It didn't take that long to get back to Forget-Me-Not Valley. I was lucky enough to get by without running into anybody. I didn't want to deal with anything until after the ball. I walked quickly back to the farm, ready to eat dinner and relax for the rest of the night. Tomorrow was going to be chaos, the girls were going to be running around like a bunch of confused chickens. I, of course, was going to be dragged into the middle of it all.

I ate a quick dinner of vegetables ad eggs, stir fried. Then sat down on the couch and turned on a movie. I was pretty sure that it was a horror movie, but it was so poorly done I spent most of my time laughing at the crappy effects and monsters.

I fell asleep in the middle of the third movie. It must have been around three in the morning.

For the rest of the night I dreamt of Skye. Some things were good, others were bad.

I awoke to the sound of banging on my door.

"Jill!" The banging began to increase in speed and loudness. "Get up! You've been sleeping all day!"

I grumbled and looked at my clock. It was three in the afternoon. I had been sleeping all day. "Omigod!" I quickly jumped off the couch and ran to open the door. "I'm so sorry. I was up late last night."

Muffy pusher her way through. "It doesn't matter anymore." She walked over and grabbed the dress, which was laying on a chair. "We have to get to Luminas and get ready. A limo is coming to pick us up at five thirty." She quickly left the house. "Come on!!"

I stood blankly for a moment but quickly grabbed my shoes, and brushed my teeth. Then followed Muffy who was standing outside impatiently.

"We tried calling you, but nobody picked up." She eyed my hands. "Don't you have a mask?"

"Oh! Right!" I turned to open the door. "I completely forgot." I ran inside and grabbed the mask.

Muffy looked even more irritated. "Now lets go!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me while she started to slowly run. "We need all the time we have."

"Is it really going to take an hour and half to get ready?"

Muffy turned around and shot a look at me. "Actually it takes around two hours, but we'll have to move fast now."

I groaned. An hour and half of Muffy and Lumina going crazy. And then Nami and me complaining about how we don't like this. "Fun." I said out loud. Muffy shot me a look. Her response was simply tightening her grip and running faster.

When we arrived at the mansion, Muffy was almost out of breath. I could tell she didn't run that often, the fact that she hadn't fallen down, while running in heels, amazed me. Sebastian ushered us in and hurried us up the stairs towards Luminas bedroom. I knew that once I entered the room, it was going to be an hour and a half of hell. I had to brace myself.

Lumina sighed in relief when Muffy and I entered her room. "There you are! We were unsure if you were going to show." She grabbed my arm and pushed me over to a small vanity. "Your getting your hair done now. Everyone else's is already done."

I gulped. I didn't want them to do anything extreme to my hair. But at least I didn't have to wait for them to do everyone else's.

"Shouldn't we do her makeup first?" Celia suggested.

Muffy and Lumina nodded. "I guess your right." Muffy said. "Lumina, you do her make up. I'll do her hair after." The two girls shook hands on it, while everyone else scrambled to grab their dresses and change.

Lumina was light on the make up. She put on a little mascara and eye shadow. "You don't need much make up. It'll take away from the colour of your eyes." She then put a little bit of lip gloss on. "It's flavoured, just so you know." After that, she jumped up. "Finished! Your turn Muffy!"

Muffy clapped in excitement. "Yay! I'm going to have fun."

I gulped again. Muffy was amazing at doing hair. I knew that, but I didn't want my hair to be any different that it usually was. "Can you uh.. Take it easy on the styling. I don't want it too be much different."

Muffy let out a little grin. "Is there somebody you want to be able to notice you?"

I turned red. "No!" Okay, well so maybe I did.

"No need to get touchy. You'll tell us after won't you?"

I looked down at my feet. "Maybe…."

Muffy sighed and began to play with my hair. "Well if you want your hair to be the same, I can leave it in the ponytail, but how about I curl the ends?"

I nodded. "Sure, why not."

"Good." She pulled up the already heated curling iron and began to curl my hair. "I'll only curl it a bit, okay?"

"Okay."

About twenty minutes later Muffy put down the iron. "There, done."

I looked in the mirror, I had never seen myself like that before. I actually looked beautiful. I had always considered myself ordinary. But now I felt like something more. The other girls looked at me, they seemed almost as shocked as I did.

"See if you clean up the farmer look once in awhile, you can pull off the princess look." Celia chuckled.

Lumina elbowed her. "You're one too talk Celia."

Celia laughed. "Yeah, but I do wear make up daily."

"You just started when you and Marlin officially started dating." Muffy giggled.

Celia crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out. "At least I have a boyfriend."

Muffy stuck her tongue out back in a mocking way. "Hey! Griffin is just a little slow that's all."

"A little?" Lumina said under her breath. Well it was actually quite loud.

"What about Rock? He seems pretty slow."

Lumina turned red. "Well actually… we have done some stuff."

Everyone in the room turned to Lumina who was now as red as a tomato. "Spill!" Muffy chirped.

Lumina shook her head. "N-no! We said we weren't going to say anything!" She quickly changed the subject. "What about you Nami? How are you and Gustafa doing?"

Nami looked at her a little embarrassed. "We're fine."

"Didn't he write you a song the other day?" Flora asked.

Nami nodded, her face a light shade of pink.

Muffy started to pout. "Does that mean I'm the only one who hasn't gotten anywhere?"

Everyone looked at Flora, who hadn't said anything about her and Carter. She looked at the ground. "Well, maybe a we're a little closer than we were before…."

Muffy huffed. "Well what about you Jill?"

I looked at her, then glanced at Celia. Celia looked unsure. "Well, no I don't have anybody I'm seeing." Okay, I really didn't like lying, but what else could I do? They wouldn't understand.

Muffy sighed in relief. "Good, I thought I was the only one."

Celia put her hand to her forehead. "It's okay to be single Muffy. You don't always need to be with someone. Haven't you had your bad share of men?"

Muffy gave a defeated look. "I guess your right."

"Good, now lets finish getting ready. We need to be ready by five thirty!" Lumina piped in.

We all nodded and continued to get ready for the ball. I was now excited for it.

* * *

ZOMG!!!! I UPDATED!!!!! Do you all hate me? Do you want to kill me? Or do you think I am the bestest person in the whole friggen world for updating!???? I actually wanted to put this up before Halloween, but I got sidetracked. Just thank my friend for bugging me to update. And I swear that in the next chapter I will put in some good stuff between Jill and Skye!! SO KEEP ON READING!!!!!


	22. Good Bye

Chapter 21

I climbed out of the limo and pulled the mask over my face.

"You guys ready?" Lumina asked. We all nodded. "Good, lets go in then!"

I gulped and walked forward, a little wobbly. Muffy had let me borrow a pair of her shoes, the heels were too high for my liking. Dancing would be difficult.

Looking to my left I saw Celia put her hand on my arm. "You gonna be okay?"

I gave her a nod and a thumbs up. "Yep, I'll be fine. Everyone has masks on anyways."

"Okay, well you find me if you need anything."

"Kay."

We both headed into the newly built building. Mineral Town had a dance hall built at the base of the mountain. This was the first time it had been used.

Muffy and the others were waiting for us at the door. "C'mon you guys! Let's go in!"

Celia and I nodded and ran to the door. I wobbled a bit at first, but quickly found my feet.

The six of us stood at the large door. Muffy was the one to open the door. We all stood expressionless for a moment, but large smiles crossed all of our faces. The inside of the hall was beautiful. The walls looked like they were gold, large velvet curtains hung on the windows. A large stair case was at the back of the main room, a red carpet ran down the steps. The entire place looked like a castle.

"Omigod! This is gorgeous!" Lumina looked shocked. "It's even better than my house!"

"Where did they get the money for this?" Flora asked.

"Does it matter?" Celia said, her eyes seemed to be glued to beauty of the house. "Let's just go have fun." Celia quickly ran off into the group of dancing people.

"There must be at least a hundred people here." Muffy said, before she followed Celia into the crowd.

Lumina followed the two girls, then Flora. Nami and I were the only ones left standing at the entrance. Nami nodded at me then walked into the crowd too. I walked over to the large table in the corner of the hall and poured myself a small glass of punch. During the entire time of getting ready I hadn't been able to get anything to drink. A few other girls were standing around, probably waiting for someone to ask them to dance.

"Attention please!" I looked up to the second floor, where an elderly woman was standing. "If I could have a moment of your time."

The room fell silent. "Thank you." I saw her pause to clear her throat. "Thank you all for coming tonight. It is great to see so many people come this year. We will be having all different types of music playing tonight. And we have decided that this year, at midnight everyone in the hall will take their mask off."

A small echo of cheers and whispers erupted in the large room.

"What about the surprise?" Somebody asked. I could hear everybody agreed.

"That will be revealed later. After midnight." She clapped her hands together. "Now! Everybody dance!"

A large cheer came from the crowd, as the music started to blast and everybody began to dance. I stood back and watched everyone. Dancing alone wasn't the funnest thing to do. I sighed and decided to head outside. I walked around the dance floor looking for a back exit. I found a glass door behind the staircase and walked outside.

Even the garden looked like it was a garden to a palace. There was a fountain, water flowing like a waterfall. Green shrubs decorated the edges. In the far corner of the garden, a small swing sat between two willow trees. The entire place looked romantic. Too bad I was alone.

Sighing, I continued to walk towards the swing. But I was stopped by a hand clutch my own, and another whisked the mask off my face. A soft pair of lips came crashing down on mine. I tried to step back but, the other person was much stronger than I was.

As the kiss came to an end, I looked up to see two green eyes starring down at me. A large grin crossed my face and I gave him a large hug.

"Skye! What are you doing here?" I asked still holding him tight.

He grabbed my hands from around his back and pulled them to his lips, he softly kissed them. I felt butterflies in my stomach. "I knew you would be here."

"But how did you know that I was out here?"

He placed down my hands and grabbed the end of my hair, and twirled it between his fingers.

I lowered my head slightly. "Oh." I bent down to pick up my mask, which was now lying on the ground. I picked it up and slid it over my head.

Skye did the same with his, though his was in his pocket. He held out his hand and bowed. "Would you like to dance?"

I giggled a little and took his hand. "Of course."

We headed back into the crowded dance hall. The song at the moment was slow. I was very lucky that Skye knew how to dance, I knew how but was horrible at it. I stepped on his feet a few times.

As we danced we talked, "It's nice to see you happy again."

I titled my head a little. "What do you mean?"

"You seem like you've had a lot on your mind for the past while."

I felt my heartbeat start to increase. Did he know? Was he going to leave me forever? "Just adjusting to everything I suppose, it's been really different living in the country." Not a total lie.

He nodded, he seemed like he didn't have any idea. "I guess your right."

I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. Looking around I could see Celia and everyone basically dancing in a line with the guys of the valley.

I looked over to my right now and widened my eyes. Familiar brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and blonde hair against it. I could see two eyes starring at me through the mask. I could tell it was Cliff. And he could tell it was me.

I started to panic, I wasn't sure what to do. My hands started to sweat, when I noticed Cliff start to walk over. My heartbeat increased. Skye looked at me, a worried look on his face.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm uh fine. I just need some fresh air."

"But we were just outside."

"I know, but I don't feel so good." I released my hands from his and headed for the back door before he could follow. I looked over my shoulder to see if he was behind me. He was not. I sighed in relief and went outside.

I went to go stand next to the fountain, and trailed my finger in the water.

"Jill…"

I turned to see Cliff standing there, he had the most apologetic look on his face. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Hey…. Cliff……"

He looked down at his feet. "Look, I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, I wasn't much better myself….." I paused unsure if I should tell him, but quickly decided I should. "Listen, there's something I have to tell you."

"I know. That's why I did it. I knew about you and Skye!" It sounded like was going to start crying soon.

I stepped back. "How did you know?"

"I saw you guys once, the night you had said that you ..uh…" His voice dropped, "….Said you loved me. I went back to see if you were still home, I needed to tell you something, but I saw you head towards the Goddess Pond. I saw you confess to that _thief._"

"But what about you and Claire?" I asked, looking down at my feet. Hoping it would stop the tears and ruin my makeup.

"She had just got me a job at the Winery, and she comforted me. The kiss you saw was the first one. But afterwards, I started to like her."

"You mean there were more?"

"I thought we were done, and Claire was there. I was hurt." He lifted up his head. "You weren't any better! You made out with Skye!" His usual quiet voice was gone and he was almost yelling.

I was on the verge of tears. Why did everything have to happen like this? "Your right, I was worse. I'm sorry I hurt you." I couldn't stop the tears anymore, they just started to flow.

Cliff instantly gave me a hug. I hugged him back. "We both hurt each other, lets say it's even."

I made a small laugh. "…….Is this good-bye then?"

Cliff nodded slowly. "Yeah, it is." His voice was unstable.

"I wish it wasn't." I cried, while burying my face into his shoulder.

"Me too." He tightened his grip around me, and I tightened mine.

We stood there for a moment, before Cliff let go, he held his hands on my shoulders, and gave me one last kiss. "Good bye." He wiped a tear from my face and walked back inside.

I started to walk to the back of the garden and sit on the swing, tears still streaming down my face. My chest felt like somebody had stomped on it.

"Jill..?" I heard a horrified voice say.

I turned around, and stopped breathing for a moment. A shiver went through my entire body, and my blood went cold. Burying my face in my hands, and whimpered; "Skye…"

* * *

Do you all hate me? I kinda hate myself now.... And I have a very sad thing to say, but it has to be done. The story will probably end in the next few chapters or so, depending on how I want to end it. But I hope you all enjoyed it so far. And will keep on enjoying it for the rest of the story.**  
**


	23. Finally

Disclaimer: All characters and settings to their respective owners.

Chapter 22

"Skye…" I instantly fell to my knees, I felt like I was going to throw up. I didn't want to hear what he was going to say. He looked extremely hurt, almost as much as Cliff did. I couldn't take much more of this. "Listen, I can explain!"

He shook his head, "You don't need to, I saw everything."

I swallowed deeply, hoping whatever was coming up would stay down. "Y-you did?"

"Yeah, I don't know what to say. You were with him while you were with me?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me, I just couldn't help myself. It's just I liked both of you so much. You were so different and it made me feel alive, but Cliff was safe and calm. I didn't know how to choose. I'm just so sorry!" The tears were still running down my face. I must of looked like a mess. "I'll understand if you never want to see me agai--"

I was cut off by Skye suddenly embracing me. He held onto me, as if he thought if he didn't I would disappear. I could feel his heartbeat, it was faster than mine, and his whole body was shaking. I had never seen him like this before.

"I just need to know one thing." He said.

I was still in shock, and couldn't reply.

I just need to know, do you still-- did you love me?" His voice was full of fear.

"I- Of course! I always loved you." I hugged him back. He still smelled of a faint scent of curry, it was calming and at the same time it hurt me. If we were to stay together, it would take awhile to get off the scent of curry. It was too similar to Cliff's scent.

I heard him sigh in relief. "I'm glad. I thought, just for moment, that you maybe didn't love me." He pulled away from the hug and looked at me, he wiped away a tear that was rolling down my face. He managed a smile. "You shouldn't cry anymore."

I smiled back, "I'll try."

"I promise that I won't ever make you cry."

I made a small laugh. "And I promise that I won't ever let you make me cry."

"Good."

We both began to laugh, it was something that I need dearly. With everything that had been happening in the past few months, I needed to laugh, or feel something other than pain.

"Skye."

"Yeah?" He replied.

"How come you aren't mad?" I had honestly thought we would dump me.

"I guess sometimes, you love someone enough to just be able to forgive them for anything."

I smiled, "You're right."

We stayed out there for a little longer, just sitting on the garden floor. It was one of the happiest moments I had experienced, since moving to Forget-Me-Not-Valley.

"We should probably go back inside now." Skye said first.

I nodded. "Okay." We both stood up and walked back into the dance hand in hand.

The moment we entered, I saw Celia off in the distance, she glanced at me and flashed a thumbs up. I smiled at her and turned to Skye.

"Let's dance."

Skye nodded, he took my hand and we walked towards the center of the dance floor. The moment we got there the current song stopped, and a much more slow song started. I rested my head on his shoulder and stood there like that, slowly drifting back and forth to the music. It seemed like were the only two people in the world right now. And I would have been happy with that.

The rest of the night was spent like that. We danced and danced, I felt everything I had feared, everything I had worried about, being washed away.

A man who stood on the indoor balcony began to shout, "Ladies and gentlemen! It is now midnight and that means it's time for the big surprise."

Everyone in the room began to applaud excitedly.

The man cleared his throat, "Well then," He paused and glanced towards the far corner. Everyone look too.

A spotlight shone down on two people, I could instantly tell who it was. It was Celia and Marlin.

Celia began to grin excitedly.

"Celia, I've always loved you, and I've decided that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you marry me?" Marlins face was beat red.

Celia jumped up and down excitedly. "Yes! Yes! I will!"

He quickly pulled out a blue feather and handed it too her. She excitedly hugged him. Every single person began to clap and whistle. I could see the both of them begin to cry. I could not of been more happy for Celia right now. I looked up to see Skye, he had a very pleased look on his face. I could tell from the look on his face, that he was thinking about the same thing I was; marriage. It scared me.

***

Within the next month Celia and Marlin were married, Lumina and Rock were engaged, Muffy and Griffin were steadily dating, Flora and Carter had eloped, and Gustafa and Nami were in an on again off again kind of thing.

Skye and I had been together basically every night since the dance. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Oh! And Claire and I are on speaking terms again, her and Cliff have hastily decided to get married, I of course am the bride of honour. It was a little awkward at first, but we soon got over it. It's great, its like old times again.

"10.…9.…8.…7.…6.…5.…4.…3.…2.…1!!" In an instant the party poppers went off and cheers were heard from everywhere.

We were all together in my house as the new year came, it had officially been a whole year since I had arrived, and since I had met Skye.

Everyone was here, Muffy, Celia, Lumina and Nami, and of course their lovers. Even Cliff and Claire showed up. Skye wasn't here though, we were meeting later tonight as soon as everyone left. Which would be soon.

"Happy New Year!" We all cheered.

The rest of the party was filled with laughing, drinking (responsibly for me) and stories. But it all came to and end very quickly, and I couldn't be happier. I was going to go meet Skye at our tree.

I rushed to the Goddess Pond after everyone left, and climbed up the tree hoping to see Skye's face. I did, His lips suddenly came crashing down on mine. I smiled uncontrollably.

He pulled back, "Happy new year angel."

"You too."

"Heh. Would you like to watch the sunrise together?" He motioned to a blanket, which was placed perfectly.

"Of course!"

We quickly curled up under the blanket and lied down ready to watch the sun rise.

I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. And the fact I was watching it with Skye made it even better.

"I love you." I whispered to him.

"I love you too." He whispered back kissing the top of my head.

* * *

Well that's it everyone! I want to thank everyone who stuck it through and read till the end, I must say you guys were the only reason I was able to finish. So this is all thanks to you. Give yourselves a pat on the back. I hope the ending was enough for you guys, I decided to end it like this, so you guys can imagine how it ended. Did they stay together? Or did they eventually move on? I leave it up to you.

Also, check out my other FanFiction. I have a FF7 one. YuffiexReno. And I'll be starting another harvest moon one, this time with my new favorite pairing. Akari/AngelaxChase, so expect that in the near future.

EDIT: Also I just re read this and it suuuuucks! I'll most likely rewrite this later. It was 3 in the morning when I was writing this. It's waaaaaay too rushed.

And once again thank you, and I love you guys! :)

FIN


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